Memories
by The Author Haru
Summary: "Her beautiful curls, usually bouncing and alive, now stiff and dead. Her eyes, usually sparkling and curious now starred ahead, blank and distant. Her uniform was now a long sleeved shirt and long pants, both black. This was the look of someone observing the anniversary of a loved-one's passing. Kakashi knew this solely because he did the same thing twice every year."
1. Silver Prince

**To the reader: **

**This is somewhat a warning, somewhat a...well...a note to you, the reader. This story that you're about to read is nothing like anything that you ever have or ever will read. It's one of the partially nightmarish stories that I tell myself before I go to sleep. If you don't like stories that involve action (maybe a little romance) and innocents being stereotyped because of where they came from and what they have forcibly been made into, then you can read some other happy story with a happy ending that won't leave you crying throughout it all. For those of you who just became interested in this story by that last sentence, I hope you find it to be unique and that you are able to find the messages and morals in the story. That's all. Enjoy the story...or don't. -The Author Haru**

Black. Everything was black. 'Why? What happened to the sun?' I wondered. I had laid in a field not far from a slope beneath a cliff to rest after a day of painful and nauseating training.

I'd been finishing my studies on this World's language- something that wasn't completely unique to it, unlike most of the other Worlds that I've been to. I'd also been working on the special fighting techniques that the people on this World called jutsu. Earth styles mostly. Earth style jutsu, earth Bending, rock and grass Type creatures...they were all my weak spot. I had mastered them, of course, I had to in order to archive the title of Sorcerer.

It seemed that I had dozed off and then reddish-orange of the sun beating down on my eyelids suddenly vanished. That's when I woke up.

All of these thoughts and memories of earlier today flashed through my mind in a quarter of a millisecond. My brain is highly evolved for a 13 year old Sorcerer apprentice, but then, this is the age that a person would begin to even start to **consider** preparation for such brutal training. I opened my eyes to find that a person was blocking the sunlight. This person seemed to be...FALLING! Falling from the cliff top!

Only then did I hear the shouts and clanging of kunais (throwing knives), shuriken (ninja throwing stars), and jutsu of a battle. I understood instantly that this person (He? She? I couldn't tell quite yet) seemed to have been knocked unconscious, judging from the lack of movement and panicked shouts, and pushed over the edge of the cliff by the enemy.

In an instant I was up on my feet and sprang the 50 feet between the person and the ground and caught them in my arms, landing on my feet the way these 'ninja' did when they jumped from a high rooftop, or wherever else.

I set them lightly on the ground to get a better look and gasped. 'It's the prince from Mother's book! The one with the silver hair!' Something in my head seemed to be yelling at me to focus, so I began looking around for his injury.

It took maybe two seconds at the most. It was a wide gash with a dark fluid staining the navy blue fabric of his shirt around it. It was where one of the bones in his rib cage should've been. Second closest to his stomach. It went from a little ways away from the center of his chest on the left side (below his heart) to where the bone started to curve backwards. The gash was about a few inches wide. It seemed to have been made with a thick and bulky sword and was most likely originally aimed at his heart.

I started to measure how fast he was breathing, his heart rate, and his movements to figure out exactly how deep the gash was. After about a minute I decided that it had, in fact, hit his bone. Luckily enough it didn't seem to be broken. However, I did smell some type of highly toxic or poison substance.

The battle cries were still ringing in the air as I lifted him up and started to carry the unconscious boy to my campsite in a cave behind a waterfall a little farther along the cliff edge. I hoped that his comrades wouldn't freak out enough to think that he was dead.

A steady BUM BUM, BUM BUM. I was listening to the boy's heartbeat. I'd healed him and washed the blood out of his shirt. He seemed to be resting comfortably, however, it may have been the heavy doses of anystisia….

I was able to take off his ninja headband from his forehead now that I was sure he was fine. I looked at the symbol on it for the first time. 'The symbol of Konoha' I recalled. I lifted his head and undid the knot with ease.

My index an middle fingers came together and the light green of Healing Ninjutsu just added more light to that of the blazing fire in the center of the cave. I touched them to his forehead and felt something….some pressure…. something, and realized that I had just formed a type of mental Attachment. On accident, of course, just like always. And I was soon plunged into darkness.

I felt rage. Incredible rage that could not ever belong to me. It was too ferocious, too full of hatred and pain. I started to panic, thrashing wildly to get out of this darkness and away from the scary rage and the hate and the pain. I tried to force it down but it was just growing and i was panicking.

"HELP!" I tried to scream.

Then I remembered. This was what that silver prince felt, not me. Why was he so angry? I began to feel myself falling but this I was familiar with. It happened right before you began to see the person's memories. The rage turned to pain and sadness and the feeling that some recent event wasn't real. Or couldn't be. Or maybe even shouldn't but it was.

I recognized it then. It was the sense of knowing that a loved one was dead. I had never felt it, not even when everyone and everything but my brother and I were left….

This memory also came with images. A horrible image. A man with familiar looking silver hair was lying on the floor, curled in a position that almost reminded me of the letter c the shadow of the window was on him.

'_Father...I never though that he would...that it was that bad...the depression...why..._?' was the boy's only thought. His father had been in a deep depression. This boy was only nine when he witnessed his father's suicide.

Another, much sweeter memory. A smiling woman with bright red hair. '_An Uzumaki Clan member?! I thought that they were in the Hidden Eddy village!_ (just for those of you reading this who know nothing about Uzumakis, the Hidden Eddy was an actual village where the rest of the Uzumaki clan was located)' She is his...I couldn't tell if she actually was his mother until I saw the next memory, the woman giving another man with yellow hair and blue eyes a kiss on the cheek. Definitely **not** his mother.

I saw a dozen more memories but they were too brief to make them out and I couldn't concentrate on them when I could actually tell what they were.

Then they ended.

I shivered and found myself back in the cave and ripped my hand away from him. I felt the shatter when the Attachment broke, my Companion seemed to as well. I didn't hear her come in.

My Companion is a pure black she-cat/kitten/lion (she can morph) named Soot that I built off of my own DNA. She was in lion form right now and had been lying on the other side of the fire next to the narrow entrance to the cave. She lifted her head when she heard the snap and padded over to sniff the boy on my futon mattress. Soot then slid herself under his head to be used as a pillow.

"I have to tell you something" she said. I gasped. She could only speak for about an hour per month and only spoke if she had to. Soot sighed and rolled her eyes at my expression, wide eyes and my mouth hanging open.

"I think that I saw this kid's teammates and leader. There was a tall man with blue eyes, yellow hair, and a dark green vest. He is the leader. The teammates are a boy and a girl, the boy wears orange goggles and the girl wears a white apron. You know, the kind that waitresses wear to keep their pants clean."

Once I had gotten over my shock I thanked Soot and told her to keep an eye on the boy. She curled herself around his head a little more and that told me that she wouldn't let him go anywhere or let anything happen to him. 'So the memory I saw was of his teacher and who I'm guessing is his teacher's wife.' I thought to myself.

Obito's Point of View

'Damn that Kakashi! At this rate, we're all going to be looking for days. The worst part is that I dont even get to look with Rin!' Obito, Rin, and Minato had all split up to cover more ground while they searched for Kakashi, who had gone missing while the rest of them had to fight rouge shinobi on a cliff top (a totally epic place for a battle, if I may add). They'd been searching since the afternoon and it was now night. 'I hope he fell of the cliff and broke his neck!' Obito thought bitterly.

He was walking through some undergrowth by a river atop the cliff. Minato-sensei told them that Kakashi probably would've been resting by something noticeable if he'd been chased away from the battle.

'This is unlike him, not to come back to-' his thoughts were interrupted by a sound. It was a calming sound, as if all of nature chose to start singing.

Obito jumped across the river and started walking to where the sound was coming from. The sound got louder and louder until he could tell that it was a **person** singing, not nature itself. He pushed aside a bush to find a clearing with a girl in it, sitting on a large, pale boulder. She was the one singing. Her side facing Obito.

The girl had long, dark, wavy hair that went down past the center of her back. She wore a completely white, short-sleeved crop-top and a short white skirt to match, both of which were quite loose. Netting covered her from her shoulders to her wrists, her stomach, and half-way down to her knees. Her mouth moved to form words that Obito simply couldn't understand. They sounded like gibberish to him but they matched the beautiful melody perfectly.

He shook his head. As captivatingly beautiful as she was, he had to tell Minato-sensei about her. She probably had lured Kakashi the same way! '_But then, Kakashi is an idiot, so of course he got hypnotized! I gotta tell Minato-sensei before she gets us too.'_'

Obito led Minato-sensei and Rin through the brush by the river to the clearing with the boulder. It seemed that she may have stopped singing to take a nap or something because nobody heard anything.

The reached the clearing where, less that a half hour ago, the syren that had lured Kakashi into some kind of trap was trying to nab him too. But by the time they got to the clearing, there was nothing and no one there.

"Obito are you sure that there was a girl here? I's really dangerous to be around here alone with all the rouges and everything.." Rin said quietly.

"Yes, Rin, I'm sure." he responded.

"Obito?" Minato-sensei asked.

"Yes Minato-sensei?" Obito asked with an irritated voice.

"Was there a red light here before too?" He pointed to the floor where there was a glowing reddish hue to the dirt.

Someone behind Obito cleared their throat loudly and it echoed around the clearing. Everybody turned to find the syren-girl, her eyes glowing blood red, standing an a high branch of an oak tree. "Is there any specific reason that you are trying to catch me?" her voice boomed.

Everyone stood in shock '_Since when has she been standing there…_' they wondered.

Minato-sensei was the first to speak. "Who are you and what have you done with my subordinate?" he asked in a demanding voice.

The girl's eyes stopped glowing red and went back to their beautiful dark brown. This seemed to be funny to her because her only reaction was laughing. The three of them just stared. "Oh, no," she said when the laughter stopped. "You have it all wrong. I didn't DO anything, other than save him. He fell off of the cliff-" she stopped short and looked at Obito in a confused way. "What's so funny?"

Obito hadn't realized that he'd been smiling at the thought of that jerk falling of the cliff, never to bother anyone again. "N-nothing." he said. "Go on."

She still looked confused. "Um, well, as I was saying, he fell off and I caught him. He was unconscious and had a huge cut with poison in it so-" this time it was Rin who interrupted.

"He's dead?!" she exclaimed.

"Damn it let me finish and you'll find out!" The syren-girl snapped. "I got rid of the poison," she glared directly at Rin, "and I was able to heal the cut. He's resting comfortably. **Now** I'm done."

Minato-sensei sighed in relief. "Thank you very much for saving him...um...I'm sorry but I'm afraid I don't know your name."

The girl smiled. "My name is Akemi and I'm sad to say I don't know yours either."

"I'm Minato." Minato-sensei said. "This is Rin and that's Obito. My other subordinate, the one that you found, his name is Kakashi. Do you think you could you take us to him by any chance?"

Akemi jumped down from her tree branch and landed in from of them. "Sure. Follow me!" she smiled politely and began walking.


	2. Rendezvous

Rin's Point of View

"But how did you heal something that big so quickly?" Rin asked. Akemi had described to Minato, Rin, and Obito about Kakashi's injury and how she'd found him. They sat in a circle around the fire with Akemi sitting next to Kakashi, checking his heartbeat and breathing.

"It wasn't too easy," she said, "but I healed it from the inside-out." Rin gasped after a minute, which was the amount of time needed for her to figure out what Akemi had meant. Then scowled.

"So," she growled, "you mean to tell me that you actually put your hand inside the cut and healed it that way? If that's even possible." Obito and Minato-sensei stared at Akemi, wide eyed in horror.

She kept her gaze pointed down at Kakashi's face but Rin could still see her confused expression. "Well, um, yes. That's what I did." She looked up and tilted her head when she saw the extreme fear and shock on their faces. "Why? I solved the problem, didn't I? There isn't even a scar left."

Akemi's Point of View

'_Sheesh. What are they staring at? I did what I had to. Aren't they happy that he's alive? Other than Obito, I mean. He doesn't seem to care about Kakashi too much._' I thought to myself.

My head was still tipped to one side. I was staring at the three faces that only showed dread, fear, and what seemed to be sudden mistrust. "I healed him. He's resting comfortably. So why do you look...repelled?" I asked.

Minato's mouth hung open a little. He cleared his throat, trying to recompose himself. "Um…Akemi...most healers...they don't, ah, put their hand inside the wound itself. They...heal it from the outside." He said, speaking slowly and choosing his words carefully.

"But doing it that way takes too long and I didn't want to watch him be in pain. Plus I want to get him home as fast as possible, so that you, his comrades, wouldn't worry. The method I used actually grows the cells within a few hours at the most with very little discomfort involved for the patient. Your healers wait for the body to heal itself, but the cut was too big for that. My hand is small so it didn't even touch the sides of the wound. Do you understand my reasons now, Rin, Master Minato?" I responded. Trying to make myself sound as convincing as possible so that they wouldn't worry.

But then again, I was often looked at with terrified expressions and was responded to with harsh words and insults. Everyone did that. Everyone. Why should these people be any different? I sighed.

"Akemi," Master Minato said with a gentle voice, "thank you for taking care of Kakashi, wether or not we disagree with your methods of healing." He smiled and so did I. "And, Akemi?"

I felt relieved that at least Master Minato could understand the pressure that he and Rin had put me under, even if remotely so. I felt warm and...almost cared for in a way. It was an unusual feeling for me. "Yes sir?"

"You don't need to call me "master". Just Minato is fine." I couldn't understand why he would say that. This was new for a high status person to ask to be called by just their first name. He was still smiling, though.

I shifted form side to side, considering this. "I...um...this is the first time any high ranked Shinobi has ever asked me not to call them Master...are you sure?" I asked uncertainly.

"You know what, why don't you just call me Minato-Sensei." He responded patiently. He smiled. I nodded and smiled back. I liked Minato-Sensei. He considered other people's feelings and thoughts as well as his own. '_Kakashi, Rin, and Obito should count themselves lucky to have such a great teacher._' I thought to myself.

"Also, Akemi?" Minato-sensei asked.

"Yes, Minato-Sensei?"

"You seem very well disciplined." he noted.

"Thank you." I said. Once again, he seemed to be, metaphorically, killing me with kindness. "My teacher says I have to, if I want to complete my training any time soon."

"You're teacher should help out with my subordinates." He joked. I laughed. "Hey, where is he anyway?" Sensei asked.

"Huh? Oh he's on a mission. I'm going to rendezvous with him...at your village, actually." I replied. "He says that he wants us to train there for a little while. We're going to be staying with a friend of his."

"Really? Who?" He asked. "And why is he letting you travel alone in such a dangerous area? It's crawling with rouges!"

"Well, you see, the people in my village aren't exactly allowed to leave. Only the higher-ups, messengers, and merchants do really. Most of the people in training stay in the village and the safer areas around it until their teacher lets the become a higher level. The only reason that I'm allowed to leave is because I'm a lot more advanced. I think I'm somewhere in between regular Jonin and ANBU black ops level? Something like that." I explained.

It wasn't a total lie, but it wasn't the whole truth. This World specifically was under a restriction and only fully trained, certified Sorcerers were allowed into most restricted Worlds. People were allowed to leave the city but they couldn't come to Worlds like this. It was just too dangerous. The only reason that I was here was because my master had managed to somehow smuggle me here.

Minato-sensei opened his mouth to speak again but a small noise interrupted him. Kakashi seemed to be waking up.

I shifted my position so that I could look at his face better, or what wasn't covered by his mask, at least. He opened his eyes slowly so they could adjust to the light. "Mmmm…where…what..." He mumbled.

I sat and stared at his eyes. I'd never seen such dark eyes before. They looked like small pieces of the blackest obsidian, carved into circular shapes. They gave his calm face a lost-puppy look, which seemed to fit because he probably had no idea as to where he was.

He noticed me for the first time. He stared for a minute as well. Then I cleared my throat and smiled. "Hi there, Kakashi. How are you feeling?" I asked.

"I…um...fine. What...what happened?" He asked. His lost-puppy look became a REALLY-lost-puppy look as he glanced over at the ceiling only to find stone.

"You fell off a cliff." Obito answered plainly. "You had a broken bone."

I sighed. "He didn't break a bone." Rin said as she scooted over to look down at Kakashi. "The wound was bone-deep." His face became hard at the sight of her, as if he remembered that he was supposed to be serious about something. Rin and I helped him to sit up, even when he objected.

Then he saw Obito. The painful, inhuman, and fierce rage shot through me and I doubled over, gasping in shock. The Attachment hadn't completely disintegrated yet. It was never fully gone immediately. This was still his anger. Not mine.

"Akemi! Are you all right?!" Minato-sensei asked sounding concerned. He was at my side now. Obito had come over to see as well.

I took a few shaky breaths and responded weakly. "I-I'm fine. It's...it's just an infection that wasn't healed properly coming back to bite me. I'm fine." I repeated. The painful exasperation was ebbing but I didn't trust it not to come back.

"You should get some sleep." Rin said. "Maybe that'll help a bit. Or should I look at it? The infection, I mean." I like these people. They were concerned for a stranger's well being.

"No thank you Rin. I'm fine. This happens every once in a while. It'll be gone by the morning."

"Who are you?" Kakashi asked. "Why am I in a cave? And why is the pillow moving?!" Soot had fallen asleep under Kakashi at one point and was roused by the sudden commotion. Her head popped up and she yawned. Her golden eyes opened and she stood to stretch. I giggled at the surprised expressions of Team Minato. Apparently, I was they only one who could tell that she wasn't actually a pillow.

"Don't worry. She's not going to hurt you." I reassured them. Soot morphed into new-born-sized-kitten mode and jumped up on Kakashi's shoulder to take a nap. Kakashi's awestruck grimace made me laugh more.

He tried, unsuccessfully, to shoo her away. Rin and I laughed at Kakashi when Soot growled and hissed at him. She was telling him to bug off. Meanwhile, Obito went to open a sleeping bag and Minato-sensei started to get out some food.

"Who are you?" Kakashi repeated once I had put Soot on my lap. "Where am I and why am I here? Why are all **four** of us here?"

"Well I'm Akemi. You were knocked unconscious and pushed off the cliff." I said. "We're all in a cave behind the waterfall a little farther off from where you fell. As for why, I brought you here to fix you up. You had a pretty nasty gash right here." I explained, pointing to where the cut had been.

"I remember being in pain." He stated. "Then I felt cold, then warm. Not much else after that." This seemed to confuse him, though it was obvious to me that he hadn't been fully unconscious until I put him under. He was in pain because of the wound. Cold when he fell off the cliff, because of all the wind. And warm because he was next to the fire. How difficult was it to figure this out?

"All right, guys, lets get to bed. We've got a long day tomorrow." Minato-sensei told us after dinner. Then he seemed to remember something. "Akemi?"

"Yes Minato-sensei?" What did he need?

"Are you coming with us? You're rendezvous is at Konoha, correct? And you're staying there for a while?" He probably also wanted me along so that I could help out with Kakashi.

"If you wouldn't mind Sensei, I'd love to." I smiled at him and he smiled back. I was going to be traveling with them tomorrow.

'I won't be a burden to them.' I thought. '_I'll help them in whatever way I can and I will stay out of their way._'


	3. Kunoichi

Soon after we had left the cave, I found out that the top of my head was only at Kakashi's chin. This ticked me off because Obito seemed to be silently making fun of me, judging by the face he made when he looked at us.

We were jumping through the trees, less than a day's travel away from Konoha. I had my arm behind Kakashi so that I'd be ready to support him if he needed it. His arm was across my shoulders, just in case he needed to lean on me. We had been proceeding like this for three days' worth of traveling and I had involuntarily synchronized my heartbeat, breathing, and movement with his.

Rin kept glancing back to look at us, as if she were afraid of something. What it was, I had no idea. I smiled at her every time, to reassure her. She'd smile back shyly every once in a while. I tried to take my mind off of it but in the back of my mind I was always thinking about it.

At one point, I realized that she might think I was getting tired, or she didn't trust me enough. "Rin." I said.

She looked back and slowed her pace to match ours. "Do you need something, Akemi?" She asked nervously.

"Ya, um, my-my shoulders are starting to ache. Could you take over for me?" Maybe carrying Kakashi herself would calm Rin's nerves. She nodded and went around us to take Kakashi from his other side. Once I was sure that she had him, I let go and moved away.

It felt cold now that Kakashi wasn't against my side. I shivered. But on the bright side of things, I felt lighter. I was able to jump faster and within a few seconds I had caught up with Minato-sensei, who was at the front of the group. "Everything okay Akemi?" He asked.

I nodded my head. "I just feel like a lot of weight was taken off of me. I'm usually a lot faster than that, actually. Sometimes if I am in a hurry, I'll travel by air." I smiled, thinking about casting the spell that would allow me to have wings and soaring through the air.

"Air travel, huh?" He said thoughtfully. "What type of jutsu do you have to use to do that?" He questioned after a minute.

"Oh, it's, um, an air style technique and it takes quite a bit if chakra. Took me months of trying to get it right." That was partially a lie. I had learned it in a few moments, with almost no practice. However, if I was using chakra instead of Magic Energy, it would wipe out almost a quarter of my chakra. My body's chakra capacity still needed work.

Minato-sensei nodded, still looking thoughtful. "You can go on ahead if you know the way back to the village." He said finally. "It's only about an hour off."

I shook my head. "No. Any good village has security and I wouldn't want to look like a threat to them. There's just no point to it." I sighed. I wanted to go ahead, to feel the push and pull of my muscles, but I also didn't want to be looked at like some random threat popping up out of nowhere. '_Well, I can't have both. If I had the option I would've gone ahead ages ago._' I thought bitterly.

Although being mistrusted wasn't unusual for me, I didn't want to risk the intel corps looking into my subconscious. The last time someone tried...they...they...I wouldn't let it happen again. Never. Nobody deserved to have their soul shredded into bits by that stupid Virus.

I wouldn't even have been diagnosed in the first place if that man hadn't been such a coward! Now that stupid disease was infused with my DNA and I couldn't take it out. I was sure that it would effect my lifespan. It had already taken almost everything from me, so why not my life as well?

We arrived in front of the Konoha gate within an hour, just as Minato-Sensei had said. One of the guards greeted us,"Welcome back Minato. Was the mission successful?" The man that addressed him had almost white skin with mossy colored eyes that had a black slit through the middle. He resembled a lizard to me.

"Hello Let. We delivered the package, no need to make a fuss. We are a little off schedule though aren't we?" Minato-sensei glanced at me.

Let seemed to follow his gaze and scowled at me. "Who's this?" He asked.

Minato-sensei looked at Let's scowl in confusion. "Oh, this is Akemi. She's a-"

"Wanted kunoichi!" Someone interjected. It was the other guard on duty. I sighed. '_Not this again!_'

"What do you mean, Masahiro?" Sensei asked him. Masahiro had spiky black hair and blue eyes. He wore the usual dark blue Jonin uniform with the green vest and a scowl on his face. He was going to be troublesome.

He stopped right in front of me. "This little brat is wanted throughout the Country of Earth. The Hidden Rock has been trying to hunt her down for weeks now. She just got added to the ANBU bingo book!"

I sighed again. '_Another village that doesn't trust me. Great._' I thought bitterly. "Master Masahiro, this is a misunderstanding. The Hidden Rock put a price on my head because I was traveling near a border and got accused of spying by some Jonin. And I'm not here to do anything other than train." I added.

"I don't buy it!" Masahiro yelled. "Kunoichi are supposed to be masters of deception! Even if you are telling the truth, you're going to the intel corps to be interrogated." He grabbed me by the wrist and seemed to be about to yank me all the way to the intel corps HQ.

"She's not a kunoichi!" Minato-sensei exclaimed. "She saved Kakashi's life two times in a day, Masahiro, and she has been traveling a long way to get here so of course she passed borders. Her teacher is rendezvousing with her here as well. You can't just nab her before she even enters Konoha and interrogate her. That's not the way it works."

"M-Minato-sensei, please don't." I pleaded and was responded to with shocked stares, even Let and Masahiro were surprised. "This is normal. A routine, if you will. Nobody trusts me at first. It's okay," I explained. "If they want to interrogate me, then that's fine. I'll cooperate if it means that they leave me in peace. My master doesn't even seem to be here yet." I added. "_Why is that man always late enough for me to get into trouble?_'

There wasn't any point to arguing with Masahiro. It was simply a waste of time. I waved goodbye to Team Minato and followed Master Masahiro, who was pulling me by my arm, to the ANBU HQ . They were to investigate me there.

He led me to a door labeled 'Honest Room' and opened it. "Hello boys! I brought you a present." Masahiro said. I heard some groans and muttered complaints coming from inside as Masahiro shoved me in.

I gasped. This **was** the Honest Room after all. I stood in a dimly lit room where weapons and torture devices were lined on the back wall, while blood stains occupied much of the rest of the room.

There was also a body on the floor. It wasn't a dead body, it was moving, but blood gushed out from various places. Two ANBU stood on either side of the body and a healer sat nearby with various torture specialists and their devices stood around the room.

I put on my most horrified, nauseated expression and looked around the room at these people as if to say '_What kind of monsters are you?!_' And started to back away. Masahiro grabbed my shoulder as hard as a hunter may grip a spear while fighting a lion.

"Who's this?" asked a specialist gripping a special chakra-activated sword.

The ANBU to the right of the body started taking sudden interest in me. "Is this the Rock's little kunoichi?" He asked with enthusiasm and humor.

Another specialist with an oversized shuriken that had special seal tags began to speak up. "Yup. That's her. Don't worry kiddo. It's your turn in a minute. We're about to finish up here. Isn't that right, _rouge_?" He addressed the person on the ground, who gave a weak grunt.

I made myself step closer to Masahiro, making it look like I might hope to find him even a little merciful. I felt his muscles tense in a way that told me he had a surprised expression on his face.

I told my eyes to tear up and for my throat to make a small squeak of fear. Then elevated my heart beat and respiration. There was no way they could think that I wasn't scared of this room...and of them.

I felt Masahiro's lungs move before I heard the sigh. "Do we have to wait? I want her taken care of now."

"Relax." The ANBU on the left said. "We just need the Jonin to get here to take this guy," he kicked the man on the floor who curled into a tight ball,"to the other office so he can answer questions."

I felt a hot tear slide down my cheek and looked at the rouge ninja that was lying in a shallow pool of blood. '_I'm such a great actor_' I praised myself. I wasn't actually afraid of these men. I feared FOR them though. If they decided that I was lying and looked in my head….

I heard zoris (the open-toed shoes that ninja wear) tapping against the tile floor behind me and looked around Masahiro's arm to see the Jonin coming to get the poor man that was swimming in a puddle of his own blood. I stumbled, pretending to be light-headed.

"I'm telling the truth! I swear on my life!" I sobbed at the men. We were still in the Honest Room and the specialists along with some other intel corps officers had been questioning me. When they had accused me of lying and had ordered the specialist with the chakra-sword to strike me, I made myself start 'shaking in fear' and made my eyes even wetter than before.

"I've had enough! We don't have any way to know if she's lying for sure! I say that we call in Yamanaka and get this over with. Or, better yet, lets call in Gushiken!" an ANBU added excitedly. "He'll just take a peek at her thoughts and-"

"NO!" I shrieked. "You can't!" I instantly regretted my outburst. '_Damn me and my big mouth! Why can't I just keep quiet?_'

"And why is that?" a specialist with some strange type of spiked club asked.

"I-I have a curse mark. It'll kill whoever tries to look into my undersense, they get killed and I'm never conscious to fix it! Please don't!" I truly was scared and sad for this Gushiken person that I'd never even heard of until now. I really was crying now. I truly was pleading with these barbarians with the blood-splattered walls.

My hope was destroyed when a specialist went outside, calling over his shoulder "I'll be right back with Kioshi!" and was gone, going to get an innocent person that was basically about to be put to death by his own associates.

I was coughing up blood, my vision blurry. '_What's wrong?_' I wondered. I had a faint sense that something terrible was happening but with all of the blur...well, it was impossible to know for sure.

I felt pressure on my shoulders. I understood instantly. Somebody was shaking me, trying to wake me up. It all rushed back to me. I sucked in a breathe and started to cough more but the blood stopped gushing from my mouth. "Stop shaking me I'm up!" I croaked.

On the floor was the young man, Gushiken Kioshi (or for those of you who watched Naruto in English, Kioshi Gushiken), on the floor writhing in pain. The Virus had got to him because he was ordered to look at my thoughts.

I started working on him immediately. I used some of the herbs stored in my Forever Bag (the forever bag can hold any amount of anything and anyone of any size or shape in it and still be as light in weight and normally shaped as an ordinary leather pouch/shoulder bag, depending on what form it's in) to help with the pain.

"Get him some water please." I said to a nearby Jonin and started with the healing Ninjutsu. After a quick diagnosis, I discovered that he barely had any of the Virus in him. But even a little bit could kill you within minutes. Luckily for me, it was a small enough amount for me to reabsorb it almost immediately.

So that's what I did. I put one hand on his head and the other on his chest and shut my eyes. I willed the dark energy towards me and back inside my own body and I sat there until I was sure that everything was back inside. Then, there was the familiar blackness of the unconscious mind.

Breathe. In out. In out. In out. I opened my eyes to find myself in a bed. There was a thick white cotton blanket over me and a soft pillow under my head. I was in a room that was well litl. "Where..." My eyes flew all the way open and I sat blot upright. "Master Kioshi!" I gasped.

A hospital. If I was put here, then he was here too. "Enjoy your nap?" Asked a voice next to me. I looked to my right and recognized the chakra-swordsman relaxing in a chair next to my bed. What in the world was he doing here?

I took a deep breath and asked "Where is Kioshi? Is he okay?" My eyes were truly wide with panic.

He raised an eyebrow. "What do you care? He tried to get into your head, remember?" he said tapping his knuckles on the side of his head. I took a shaky breath.

"Just...just tell me. Please." I whispered and started to stare at the white blanket where my bandaged hands rested.

"Um, all right then." He cleared his throat. "Gushiken is resting comfortably in another area of the hospital. He keeps talking about something dark? A shadow or something like that I think." I looked up at him in surprised panic. "Does that have anything to do with you and your curse mark? Don't answer that actually. It was completely rhetorical."

My mouth hung open, my eyes open wide. He laughed at my expression. "Well anyways, my name's Miyamato Kenshin (or in English Kenshin Miyamato). I'm supposed to look after you for a while, or, that is, until we can figure out how to tell if you're being truthful." Kenshin paused then continued. "Sooo...any ideas?"

"I thought that you guys were Jonin. You don't know how to handle a curse mark?" I asked, tipping my head to one side. This was the biggest surprise I'd had since...well actually since I'd found a 'prince' falling off a cliff edge. That wasn't too long ago though.

Kenshin shook his head. "Our specialist with curse marks isn't in at the moment so we have to wait. But he's not scheduled to come back to the village for another few weeks or so."

"Oh. Okay then. It's very simple actually. Um, so you really need to find someone that I'm comfortable around and has a similar chakra and stuff. But they have to trust me too...the only people that I can think of are Minato-Sensei and his team. One of them would be your best bet. You just need to test their chakra and such." He seemed a little baffled at how well I knew the way a curse mark worked. I **was** only thirteen, after all. And, apparently, short for my age as well.

"I-I'll call them in. Your clothes have been washed and are in the dresser." He pointed to the foot of my bed where I could see a portion of a flat piece of wood. "An escort will come to get you soon." Kenshin told me. Then he got up and left.

The next hour or so was simple chakra tests. They tested the amount of chakra I had. I only allowed them to detect a certain amount. Any more than that would make these Jonin and ANBU call me some sort of mutant or something. They also check my chakra natures. Water and fire/lightning. Fire and lightning were part of the same element so I picked randomly between the two and ended up with lightning. I had some wind and earth type chakra nature mixed in as well but I didn't let their Justus and devises detect them.

It was obvious who going to be touring my subconscious. Kakashi, of course.

Mr. Get-Knocked-Unconscious-And-Fall-Off-A-Cliff-With-A-Bone-Deep-Wound.

Great. Now Obito could make more fun of me.

I sighed. I was in the dim room at the ANBU base that they used to check my chakra, only the equipment had been moved. I had been told to sit on a cushion on the floor next an empty wall. Not more than two feet in front of me was another cushion, probably for Kakashi. And to my left, leaning against the wall and staring into space, was Kenshin.

I knew how this was going to go. He would come in and I would have to tell him how to look at my thoughts. There would be ANBU and Jonin there to make sure that nothing went wrong, and by that I mean that I wouldn't kill him. I wasn't going to hurt Kakashi but I doubted anyone would believe me.

Within a few minutes, Kakashi was brought in and was seated across from me. He looked very unhappy that he was here. He turned to the group of his higher-ups "Why am I even here? If she was a kunoichi, she wouldn't have let me live. She'd have taken any wanted information out of my corpse."

"Why would I want to kill you? I get that knowledge is supposed to be power and all, but frankly, that's just ridiculous." I made no sense to me. I knew that a dead corpse still held information and I knew perfectly well how to get it, but honestly why would I waste herbs on him if I wanted his knowledge?

Kenshin answered his question. "Well, for all we know, you saved his life just to hide in our village or get information or something. Not that I believe that load of crap." he added. "I mean, you told us about the curse mark and," he looked to the other jonin, "you should've seen her face when she woke up. She was all panicky about Kioshi and-"

"Wait a second. What curse mark?" Kakashi asked, looking from Kenshin to me and back again.

"That's not important!" snapped one of the ANBU behind him. This seemed to make Kakashi realize that something was probably about to go terribly wrong. He started to pale a bit.

I smiled at him in reassurance. "Don't worry Kakashi. I won't let anything happen. And if anything goes wrong, these guys will fix the problem." He looked a little better. Big mistake. If he was gonna go into MY subconscious, he was most likely gonna die of fear within minutes.

I mean, I have a freaking **demon** infused with my genetics! Of course my mind is gonna be creepy! (You thought that I was actually a kunoichi trying to spy on Iwagakure and Konoha? WRONG! HAHAHA I TOTALLY GOT YOU)

"What are we waiting for? Get on with it!" demanded a Jonin with a stern face.

I cleared my throat. "Okay then, Kakashi. This is going to be very simple." I started. "The first thing you need to do is hold up two fingers on each hand." He looked very confused but did as he was told. I felt the curious stares of the Jonin, ANBU, and Kenshin directed at me. I ignored them.

"Good. Now one hand goes in the center of my forehead," I guided his right hand so that his finger tips touched my forehead, "and the other goes on the side of my neck." I said. I felt Kakashi's fingers lay gently against my neck. "Just move around until you can feel my pulse." I told him.

His fingers brushed my neck until he had found the steady beating he was looking for. Once I was sure he had it, I grabbed his wrists lightly. I let my chakra melt into his arm.

"Focus your chakra on your fingers." I directed him. I felt my chakra flow out of me faster and, out of the corners of my eyes, saw the bright green glow of healing Ninjutsu. All eyes opened wide.

"H-how?! I don't know healing...nin...jut...su..." He trailed off and his eyes closed. Kakashi's head slumped forward and I felt my head get heavy as well and I was soon engulfed in the violent darkness of sleep.

Kakashi's Point of View

Kakashi opened his eyes and saw something dark. He was cold. He was on the floor, looking up at a ceiling that faded into pitch black darkness with white lights coming from the sides. 'What's the source?' he wondered.

Kakashi got up and looked around. He was in a wide hallway that went on and on in either direction and faded into darkness. It had doors five feet or so apart. The doors were dark gray with a white symbol in the center of each. Some of the doors were taller and/or wider than others and each one seemed to have its own symbol.

Next to the doors, were torches. But these torches glowed with a white fire and the fire wasn't warm. It radiated cold and seemed to be the source of Kakashi's chills. The were stuck to the wall with some kind of dead ivy curling around the rough wood and were on either side of the doors.

'_Well, standing around and looking at torches and doors isn't going to help at all. But which direction?'_ Kakashi never would've guessed that someone like Akemi could have such dark thoughts. What was worse, he kept seeing movement with his peripheral vision but whenever he looked, it seemed to only have been the shadows playing tricks on him.

Kakashi sighed and started walking. Maybe Akemi was in here? Or maybe there was something to tell him where he was and where to find out if she was a kunoichi.

He walked. He walked and walked. Kakashi walked what for what seemed to feel like days even though it had only been minutes. This place seemed to be sapping his energy, making him tired, he was loosing hope of finding anything until he saw a dark shape outlined in the white light of the torches.

He was instantly more alert. He picked up his pace until he was running, desperate to find the knowledge he needed and leave. Kakashi's feet screamed at him to stop and his muscles moaned with pain but he didn't listen. Run run run, go go go. No stopping.

He halted ten feet away from the figure. It was a girl and was facing away from him. She wore a pure black dress that looked to be made of liquid shadow. Her hair was a shadowy vapor that was falling down down down her back. Her skin paler than a ghost.

He gasped for breath. He'd been walking too long and had suddenly started running, which wasn't the best choice. "Hello!" he said between breaths "Can you...tell me..."

The girl turned and his breathing and heartbeat stopped for a moment. The girl's body and outfit were completely strange to him but...not her face. Akemi. It was Akemi.

She smiled at him. "Hello Kakashi. Um...are you okay?" He fell forward and Akemi caught him in her arms. Besides her ghoulish appearance, she was burning hot. Kakashi flinched away.

"Y-ya. I-I'm fine." He stuttered.

Her expression changed from kind to a miserable look and she sighed. "I'm sorry you have to be seeing this, Kakashi. You're probably seriously afraid of me right now...I'm sorry." She repeated.

He shook his head. "So, Akemi, uh, what are we looking for?" he asked, trying to change the subject. She still looked unhappy.

"M knowledge of Konoha. It's all behind one of these doors. Follow me." She said and started walking, not waiting to see if Kakashi was still behind her.

He jogged to catch up with Akemi. "You know Akemi, this place needs some light." He remarked.

She glanced at him but didn't stop. "Ya. I realized." She replied bluntly.

"You oughtta hire a redecorator. I mean, I would've imagined this as Obito's mind when he's bugging me."

This made her giggle and with her small laughter, the gloomy hallway's temperature seemed to increase a bit. But maybe it was just his imagination. "You know, this is the first time I've heard you laugh, I think. You should do it more often. Its a...cute sound. Plus you look a lot better when you smile." Kakashi said warmly.

The torches seemed to burn a little more golden as her smile got wider. If he kept making her happy, this place wouldn't be so dark and cold.

"You know Kakashi," Akemi looked over at him, "you're such a lively person. Why do you scowl so much? And if you do smile, it's covered up by your mask. Does that thing not piss you off at all?"

Akemi was full of surprises today.

"Well, there's not too much for me to smile about. And I wear the mask for safety purposes." he informed her.

"Safety purposes? Do you mean because you look like Sakumo?" She asked casually.

Kakashi felt himself tense up and his eyes widen in shock. "H-how did you-"

"Here we are." She interrupted him. Akemi had stopped in front of a door that was only a foot tall and six inches wide with a Konoha symbol on it. "This is all that I know about Konoha. Most of it is on the people I've seen and what parts of the village i was dragged through." she said pointing to the miniature door. Kakashi looked at the little door without much shock. And they vault with the information on Iwagakure is over there." Akemi pointed across the hall at a door less that half the size of the Konoha one. He started to laugh.

"Kunoichi my ass! You know nothing about the villages!" He managed between the laughter. Akemi smiled wide and the hall became a little brighter.

"That's what I kept telling them!" Her smile widened and the passageway became increasingly brighter and warmer. "Finally somebody gets it!" She flung her arms around his neck, caught up in her own happiness, and his own arms responded by wrapping themselves around her back.

Then the light became too intense. Kakashi shut his eyes tight and waited, he tightened his grip on Akemi and tucked her head beneath his chin. She was the perfect size for it, he realized. She fit perfectly, her body fit in with his perfectly.

Kakashi opened his eyes a few minutes later to find that it wasn't dark or cold anymore. The golden walls glowed a bit, the torches were gone and but the ceiling blazed as powerfully as the sun so there was no need for them any more.

The doors were white, rimmed with silver and the handles shone. The metallic black of the symbols on them seemed to be the only darkness left. The ground was now made of grass. It became as warm as a summer afternoon.

Kakashi realized that he still held Akemi in his arms. He let go and looked at her. His eyes widened as he saw her. She was back to her normal, peach colored, smiling self with her silky dark brown hair. Her dress was no longer liquid shadow. It was a shimmering white dress that made her look like royalty.

A twisting line of white glittering lights swirled around her head and solidified into a tiara of clear crystal and twirling silver. She actually did resemble a princess. Kakashi's cheeks began to feel warm. He was glad that he was wearing a mask.

Then he noticed the scars. There were scars everywhere. There was one on her left cheek, another on her forehead, one more on the left side of her neck and Kakashi was sure that there would be more beneath her long-sleeved dress.

He put his hand on her cheek. "Akemi..." he whispered. "Where did all of these scars come from?" He pulled her back into him, holding her tightly and rested his chin on her head.

"Kakashi...do you really want to know where they all came from?" she asked in a hushed voice. She seemed to sense his growing curiosity and sympathy. Akemi gently pushed him away. "Come with me." she murmured.

They walked further along the tunnel until they reached a door with a strange black symbol that looked like a sloppy and jagged 3 with a line going thought it a little below the middle (I'm describing the kanji for 'child').

"Behind this door," Akemi began, "there are memories. I'm going to show you the one that'll tell you how I got my scars." She pulled the door open with ease. Behind the door was shelves and shelves of scrolls of all different shapes, sizes, and colors.

She was about to reach for one but Kakashi grabbed her arm. "I don't want to see your memories Akemi. This place is too bright for bad thoughts. Just tell me, quickly." She turned to face him.

Akemi opened her mouth but no sound came out. She looked close to tears. "I just..I don't think...I can't talk about it. I freeze up." She took a deep breath.

Kakashi sighed and closed his eyes for a minute. He dropped her arm. "Are you sure you want me to see this Akemi? If it's that bad then..."

"No, no. If you don't want to its fine but I can't talk about it because when I do I remember my mother when she saw this." She gestured to her scars. "It makes me panic." Kakashi nodded and Akemi reached for a small scroll with a black cloud-shaped wax seal. She opened it but stopped. "Kakashi...Before you see this, just...I want you to know that most people in my village are genetically engineered and act as mature as eleven or twelve year olds from a very young age." He nodded in understanding and she and handed him the roll of paper. He touched it and was engulfed in the darkness of looking into a memory.

Kakashi opened his eyes to see gloom. It was raining but he wasn't wet or cold. He looked down at his hand and it was blue and translucent. He could see the ground through it.

The young Chunin found himself to be standing on a tree-lined dirt road. '_Well, actually, it's more like a mud road because of the heavy rain_.' he thought. He saw movement just in his peripheral vision. Kakashi turned around to face the trees and saw four girls sitting beneath them on the opposite side from the pathway. They couldn't have been more than six or seven years old.

"I've had enough of that little peasant!" the shortest one was complaining.

"I'm with Arisa." said one with a long braid falling down her back. "We should do something about her! That little brat is **always** playing innocent and blaming stuff on us!"

"Isn't that what **we** do to **her**?" asked one with red hair and freckles. "I mean, c'mon! She's just a five-year-old **and** I've heard that her dad-"

"Who cares!" yelled the tallest one of the group. "Do you honestly care, Georgia?!"

'_These little kids have such weird names._' Kakashi thought. (He thinks this because all of the names he's ever heard are Japanese)

"Arisa and Jessica are with me. Why aren't you? That kid is nothing but trouble, I'm telling you." she continued.

The one with the braid, Jessica, started to speak. "Natalie, maybe we should ambush that little troublemaker." she suggested to the tallest one with a vicious smile on her little face. "That is, if we all have our blades on us." The three other girls nodded and Kakashi gasped.

These four girls were going to ambush a defenseless little kid! A five-year-old, no less!

"It's decided then." declared the tallest, Natalie. "When she's walking home this way, we get her!" Jessica and Arisa nodded but Georgia looked a bit anxious.

"So, we all hide behind a tree?" asked Arisa. The wicked girls hid behind nearby trees on the same side of the road. All but Georgia, who went to the other side of the road and was able to sneak away.

Kakashi could hear her thoughts. 'I need to warn that girl! Or her brother or mom or **somebody**!' And Georgia was gone up the road.

A minute or so later he heard footsteps. He whipped aground to see a mini Akemi walking up the road, the same direction as Georgia had run off in...she was running in the wrong direction!

Kakashi tried to grab the five-year-old Akemi but his hands slipped right through her.

All of a sudden he could see what she was seeing. She saw a muddy road that would ruin her already-worn-out shoes. Her mother didn't have the money to buy her new ones, but that was fine. She liked these a lot.

Akemi had no idea what those three had planned to do to her. She had no idea...this was where she got the scars. And it happened in a moment. They surrounded her and started to slash a her everywhere.

Once they were gone, Akemi lay in the mud, bleeding from her face, neck, legs, arms, back, and sides. Georgia had come with help too late. Akemi was then carried home, then to a hospital. She was to stay there for a week or so.

"The wounds are too deep and they're infected. They're all going to leave a scar." a man was saying on the other side of the hospital room door.

Then everything faded out. When Kakashi opened his eyes again he was standing back in the bright hallway with thirteen-year-old Akemi. She pulled the scroll out of his hands and put it back on the shelf where she got it.

"Akemi..." he began uncertainly. What was he to say to her?

"Yes Kakashi?" she asked gently, turning to face him.

"Um, uh...why do you look like a princess?" he blurted out. Kakashi desperately wanted to get rid of the awkwardness that he was feeling.

Akemi smiled at him and replied, "Well Kakashi, this is the way I invisioned myself when I was a kid. I guess that never really changed much." She began to look off into space, lost in sweet memories.

This made scrolls float out from the still open door and unwind themselves. She snatched them out of the air and put them away. Once they were neatly stacked on the shelves, Akemi shut the doors and said, "Well, we should probably get back there, huh?"

"Ya. Ya, I guess we should." Kakashi said solemnly.


	4. Allies

"So, then there's the Hokage Mountain." Kakashi said pointing to the three faces carved into the mountainside. He'd been put in charge of me after I was **finally** considered relatively ("considered" and "relatively" being the key words) safe and honest and was showing me around Konoha.

It was really a beautiful place. Trees everywhere, fields, lakes and ponds, and then there are the people on the village. They were all completely different from one another. Some were tall, others were short. Some wore bright colors while another person would wear dark or duller colors.

Some were Shinobi wearing the formal uniform or, mostly the Genin and younger Chuunin, they wore their own, hand-picked outfits with their headbands on their foreheads or sewn into clothing. Sometimes in other places as well.

Some gave me dirty looks. That was how I knew which Jonin were ANBU, higher ranked, and/or trusted by the ANBU. Whenever they would look at me like that, I would just flash them a shy look.

There were shops lining this particular street that we were on. I saw teenagers helping out and working at some. Children were running and playing and laughing. The village seemed so peaceful.

But that was because they didn't know how dangerous I was. I could take on every ninja in this village all at the same time without breaking a sweat. They had no idea….and I liked it. They didn't scream when they saw me, unlike anyone with common sense in the District would've.

"Akemi? Hey Akemi! Snap out of it." Kakashi was waving his hand in front of my eyes, trying to get me to pay attention.

"All right, all right I'm out of La La Land, thank you." I said, lightly grabbing his wrist and lowering it. I let go of a breath that I hadn't realize I'd been holding. '_Why did I all of a sudden stop breathing?_' I wondered.

"Akemi you're doing it again!" he complained. His tone made me laugh. Kakashi sounded so childish. Then I remembered the searing anger I'd felt from him when he'd first woken up in that cave...he took one look at Obito and it was enough to make even **me** collapse. This kid was probably more even more messed up than I was! And that really was saying something.

"Akemi!" He was shaking my shoulder. That almost made my patience snap, which almost **never **happened.

"For goodness sake Kakashi, what do you want?" I felt my eyes get the reddish tint to them, they weren't completely red, but the middles of my irises sure were. His eyes opened wide and his expression looked hilarious to me. It made me giggle.

"W-what the hell..." he started. I shook my head at him and laughed more. '_This guy could be a professional comedian!_' I thought to myself.

"Hey Kakashi!" somebody yelled from behind. I turned to see a boy in a green jumpsuit and (are those...) orange leg warmers running towards us. Jumpsuit Boy stopped in front of us. "So we...meet again...Kakashi..." he panted. He sucked in a sharp breath as his gaze landed on me.

I could've sworn that his eyes started to (literally) sparkle. "Hello! And who might you be?" He continued on before I had the chance to answer. "Oh, but it doesn't matter for I fear that my heart is beating too fast to be ignored!" He sounded so dramatic and, just to match his tone, posed as well. "Please won't you come with me to lunch and then-"

Kakashi cleared his throat before Jumpsuit Boy could go on. "All right, Guy, that's enough. You're starting to scare the poor thing." He jerked his thumb at me and my bewildered expression.

"Poor...thing?" Guy asked, looking baffled. "Since when did you, of all people, start caring about a girl and her delicate feelings?" He was starting to take a dramatic tone again. I groaned and looked away in irritation.

"I'm not delicate." I muttered. I felt my face get warm as people started to slow down and stare at us. Well, Guy mostly.

"Guy!" another girl, about the same age as us, was came running in our direction. I was guessing that she was Guy's teammate, judging by the fact that she had two mission discriptions in her hand. She wore a dark gray Kimono-looking shirt that went down halfway to her knees. She had black pants and dark hair that went down to her shoulders.

"Guy there you...are?" She stopped in front of us and looked from him to me to Kakashi then back at Guy. "Who's this?" She asked.

"Oh, Shizune. This is Kakashi's...um…girlfriend?" Guy asked, the idea suddenly dawning on his face. Kakashi grunted in surprised and took a step back as I felt my face grow hotter with anger and my temper broke loose.

"I'm not his girlfriend!" I snapped. "And why would you even **think** that I have time for that kind of crap?" Master (Akemi is referring to her teacher) would call this type of behavior 'turning into a wildfire'-if he was talking about me, that is, seeing as i usually do end up setting something on fire.

This seemed to freak Guy and Shizune out. Kakashi, on the other hand, seemed well-accustomed to bad-tempered people. He just sighed and shook his head. "Akemi, just ignore him. He's an idiot." He informed me.

"Fine." I said through clenched teeth. I took a deep breath and felt myself calm down a little more, but i was still fuming, nonetheless. "Can we go now?" I asked with a hint (a little more than a hint, actually) of impatience in my voice.

Kakashi was scowling menacingly at the two teammates. "Sure. Lets get out of here." He grabbed my wrist and started walking down the street, dragging me behind him.

We continued to walk in silence for a few minutes. "Sorry you had to hear that." Kakashi apologized. He still held my wrist tightly even though I was walking right next to him now and not behind.

I nodded. "It's fine. Not your fault you're stuck with me." I paused for a minute so I could look around at where we were. "So where are we going now?" I finally questioned.

"Huh? Oh, uh, sorry. I got lost in thought. We're just sorta walking around at the moment..." He trailed off then glanced at his hand. It was still gripping me so he let go. "S-sorry!" He apologized quickly.

I smiled at him. "It's fine. You were just letting your temper get the best of you. I'm like that too, as you just saw." This made him grin.

It was nearly sunset and the sky was beginning to change color. Kakashi looked up where the blue was beginning to burn into orange.

He opened his mouth to continue the conversation but was interupted by my master jumping directly in front of us. This shocked Kakashi enough to make him turn pale and back up a few feet. "Akemi! There you are. We were meeting at the village **gate**, remember?" Master tapped his foot on the stone pathway in irritation.

Master was a tall man with long brown hair and a small brown beard (imagine Avatar Roku as a younger man, if you've seen The Last Airbender). He looked like he was still in his twenties or thirties, though he was somewhere in his mid or late fifties.

Master was in his usual red Fire Nation robe with the golden brooch in the shape of flames fastened to the front center. He didn't change his uniform much when we went from World to World. He looked exactly the same as he had when he had left me to find the village two weeks ago, other than the metal plate with a Konoha symbol attached to the red strip of cloth on his forehead.

"Hello Master. How was your vacation?" I chaffed while bowing respectfully. "Did you know that we were supposed to be meeting a little less than a week ago? Or was it me who was too "early", as usual?" I teased making air quotes with my fingers and he chuckled in response.

"You're right, you're right. I was late again. I'm very sorry." He looked at Kakashi for the first time. "And who might you be, young man?" Master asked smiling.

"Hatake Kakashi (Kakashi Hatake for the English watchers), sir." Kakashi realized that Master was of a higher rank and stood up strait, arms rigid at his sides.

"Huh. Really? Well then, it seems my apprentice **finally** has developed a good taste in boys, with you being Sakumo's kid and all." Master had a playful smile on that stretched across his face. He was trying to annoy me...again.

I felt my cheeks turn rosy pink. "Master please don't. And, I didn't **pick** him. I got into some trouble with the ANBU and now he's supposed to keep an eye on me." I looked at Master accusingly as if to say 'This is SOOOOO your fault!' which it was. If he had stuck to the schedule, not that he ever did, and gotten to the gate on time, I wouldn't have gotten accused of being a spy.

He tipped his head to one side. "Does Hiruzen know about this? Oh, wait, that's right! I haven't introduced you yet. Well, better late than never. Follow me Akemi." He started fast-walking up the street.

"Master wait!" I exclaimed. That man almost never stopped rushing. "C'mon Kakashi. We're going to loose him if we don't hurry up." My hand latched onto his forearm and I started running after Master, towing a surprised Kakashi behind me. He seemed too stunned to react immediately after Master had foolishly mentioned his father.

"Wait! W-why am I coming?" He sounded panicky and out of breath. I looked over my shoulder to see Kakashi's eyes opened wide and he, once again, reminded me of a puppy.

"You're supposed to be keeping an eye on me right?" I reminded him. "Or do you not want to?" I pressured and kept walking. After that he shut up and we walked in silence. The sky was mostly orange by the time Master stopped walking and started looking upward.

We followed his gaze and found ourselves in front of the bright red Hokage Building. "So...why are we here?" Kakashi asked stopping next to me.

"We're here to meet Hiruzen, I guess." I answered. "Master, is Hiruzen the Third Hokage?" It was a rhetorical question, really. There was no point in asking. I already knew the answer without having to be told.

( INFO TIME: When a Sorcerer apprentice chooses an ally, they need to pick one that seems like they were or would soon be skilled at what the people of that World specialized in. For example, when Master chose his ally from this World, he chose Sarutobi Hiruzen, or Hiruzen Sarutobi in English, because he seemed to be a skilled Shinobi and it would've been obvious that he would become a high rank, like the Hokage. And he did.

Of course, other times, the apprentice and their soon-to-be ally would just become friends on the spot and would trade tips and techniques and train together. My friend Star and I are perfect examples. Either way, the person that was befriended by the apprentice would become highly recognized eventually. They always did. It just seemed to be the will of fate. )

"I told her this already, didn't I? I must have forgotten to tell her..." Master thought out loud as I rolled my eyes. He never forgot anything-he **couldn't **forget anything. It was physically impossible for Master, or any fully graduated Sorcerer. "Oh well. Let's go inside then, shall we?" He started walking to the double doors the led inside the big red building.

"Satoshi! Long time no see my friend!" Hiruzen exclaimed as we sat down in his office. It seemed Hiruzen wanted to meet with us alone, seeing as he sent Kakashi home until tomorrow.

"No kidding, Sarutobi! It's been, what, twenty, thirty years?" Master asked excitedly. "I should've visited sooner. Oh...uh...sorry H-" he stopped himself and cleared his throat. "I mean, Akemi. This is my apprentice, Akemi."

'_Master was about to call me... uuuuuugh. I **hate** it when he does that!_' I thought irritatedly. He'd been about to say my real name. Master could be such an idiot sometimes. We sat still for a minute or so, Master seemed to be reflecting on his actions while I was glaring at him.

Hiruzen broke the lingering silence in the room. "So you're Satoshi's new apprentice then? Akemi, isn't it? It's very nice to meet you. I'm Sarutobi Hiruzen (Hiruzen Sarutobi in English)." He said smiling at me. I smiled right back, pushing my irritation aside.

"It's an honor to meet you, Master Hiruzen. Master….ah, Satoshi has told me much about his best friend, the Lord Third." Hiruzen blushed a bit and smiled wider. I liked him. He seemed nice, but of course he was, being Master's ally **and** the Hokage, who did have a few kids of his own. He knew how to treat an ill-tempered teen. From what I was told, he had one too.

"Aw, Satoshi I thought that your best friend was Kya (The name Kya is pronounced as Kaya and was taken from Katara's mother, also from The Last Airbender. Although I'm not actually saying that Satashi actually **knows **the original Kya)." He laughed. Master shifted his gaze to the side wall as his face started to turn the color of the Hokage building.

"Idiot, how many times do i have to tell you? It's not like that **at all**." Master grumbled. I began to join in with the laughter. Kya, a.k.a. Lacy, is one of the five leaders of the District. Master and Lacy had basically grown up together, training, meeting people, and gaining power. But, wether he liked her or not didn't matter. They wouldn't bother wasting time and energy to be with each other unless it was some kind of mission or meeting or sometimes even a court trial.

Master and Hiruzen continued referencing funny experiences, news, recent occurrences, the village, et cetera for about an hour. I simply sat still and waited until finally Master Hiruzen turned to me. "So I've been informed by Satoshi-or, ah, wait you call him just Master I suppose-that, ah, you are…infected? With the Virus, I mean."

I nodded. "It's been grafted into my DNA, basically." I said robotically. And now we were back to our regular routine when it came to meeting Master's allies.

Hiruzen's face seemed to darken. "Is it hard?" he asked."I've been wondering if it's similar to being a Jinjuriki, of a sort."

I thought about that for a minute, reflecting on what i had read about Jinjuriki and how their lives are. "I suppose it may be similar. But with me, it can't be taken out without completely destroying my body cells. Then again, even if it wouldn't mean taking me apart, I would probably be killed with the lack of energy." It wasn't a bad comparison, me and Jinjuriki. We were almost the same. Almost.

"I see." Was all he said. There was a long pause in between those two words and the next few that he spoke. "So, Akemi. Are you looking to train with me?" he questioned hopefully. Before I could even open my mouth, Master spoke for me.

"She could but I would like her to go on some missions and work with you inside your office as well. She needs the experience just as much as the knowledge." he explained. Noticing my deadly-anger expression at the mention of office work he added, "But then again, paperwork isn't what she needs to work on improving."

I smiled inwardly, knowing that he didn't want to deal with my complaining about doing the boring desk work. Master Hiruzen seemed to notice as well. I saw an idea beginning to form in the Hokage's mind. Then his face lit up with excitement. "Maybe she could accompany Team Minato on a mission or with training! Minato's team would work best, I think." He continued as we thought about it. Minato's team would work best. They knew me enough to know about the pointlessness of my having been accused of being a spying kunoichi. "Oh! I know the perfect mission for you to go with them on!" Master Hiruzen announced.

The next afternoon, Team Minato and I received the mission descriptions. It was a possible A rank but it was actually ranked B or C class. All we had to do was get a letter/scroll….from a guarded fort…..

This was going to be easy.

5,000 guards? Booooriiiiing!

Fort with seventy-five-feet-tall stone walls and archer towers? I've broken through worse within seconds. On my own, may I add.

I walked over to the Konoha Gate and leaned my back against it, waiting for the team to show up so we could get moving. The fort was a good four days' travel away and Hiruzen-sensei wanted that letter soon. I wondered what was in it, why it was so important. It was a just a scroll…or was it? Nontheless, it was important and needed to be retrieved from the group of rouges who took it.

It was almost the crack of dawn, literally, and the chill of the foggy dawn morning was creeping down my spine. I shivered. I was here early. Very early. But honestly, how long did it take to get up and get dressed for a mission? I could do it quickly enough to be here a good half-hour faster.

Rin was a girl who seemed to consider looks important so she was most likely doing her hair like most of the idiotic girly-girls I knew. This was why I preferred boys as my allies. They could get right down to business without "needing" to put on eyeshadow or something.

Obito, on the other hand, had most likely sleep a bit later than he should've and was panicking and trying to be ready. Kakashi wasn't like that, though, from what I knew. He seemed to be the type of person who took this kind of stuff seriously. He and I were going to get along well and that was just fine with me.

A small tapping made me look up from my thoughts and turn. It was Kakashi. He was here early too. I was liking him more and more by the minute. "Hey." he said alertly.

"Morning Kakashi. Did you sleep well?" I asked.

"Yes. And you?"

"Not bad," I yawned, "though I did sleep a bit later than usual." He gave me a small smile at that.

We continued to talk, basic complaints about Chunin/Jonin uniforms (the green vests and navy shirt and pants) and Chunin exams as well as other basic chit-chat until Rin showed up a half hour later. We were laughing at a story of Kakashi's about a failed jutsu when she stopped a few yards away. The poor girl looked uncomfortable and angry, as she did every time she saw me. The worst part was I had no idea why, and that it made me feel twitchy.

"Good morning," she said loudly. Kakashi's smile turned to a bored expression when he turned and saw her. I simply smiled.

"Good morning Rin!" I felt my discomfort grow at what I could easily tell was her fake smile. I wasn't the only twitchy one.

"S-so how's it going Akemi?" She stammered. "Last I saw you, that Jonin was dragging you to the ANBU HQ. Is everything okay?" Her head tipped slightly to one side.

Kakashi answered for me. "She's fine. All I had to do was get into her head." He poked the side of my head and I swatted him away.

Her face became panicked and her voice got ever-so-slightly higher pitched. "**You** had to get into her head Kakashi?" her voice betrayed her concern, no matter how hard she tried to hide it. He just rolled his eyes in response. Rin hadn't been tested by the ANBU because, apparently, Kakashi was the first of the team to have had their tested. The jonin probably thought that, after finding somebody whose chakra matched mine, they wouldn't need to test the rest of the team.

"Yes, Rin. I did. The Jonin failed, so they called me in to help out." he said in what I thought was the most casual tone in the universe. A horrifyingly cold chill went up my back at the word 'failed'. It wasn't my fault that Master Kioshi hadn't been able to handle to Virus. Actually, the only ones who really could were me and the entire race of Shadows.

"B-but they're Jonin. What happened to them?!" she cried. Searing guilt swept through me as I remembered the hazy images of Master Gushiken Kioshi (once again, Kioshi Gushiken in English) as he was dying on the floor, the Virus spread from his heart and outwards and his blood began to turn so dark that even a blind rabbit couldn't miss it.

I let my gaze drop to the dirt in front of my feet. "Curse mark," I mumbled and felt Rin's shocked gaze hot on my face.

Kakashi took a few steps closer to whisper in Rin's ear. It was too quiet for any normal person to hear, even a Jonin, for that matter, but I could still hear it with my highly-sensitive-to-noise feline-like ears. "She has a curse mark," he explained slowly,"It almost got the intel corps guy killed, if she hadn't woken up in time. She didn't take it very well and Akemi still feels responsible so don't you **dare** make a fuss about it." he growled the last part into her ear.

I glanced up to see Rin nodding slowly and her body gave a shudder. Kakashi walked back over to me and rested his hand on my shoulder. "Ignore her Akemi. Pay no attention whatsoever." he breathed into my ear.

"Good morning you three!" Minato Sensei yelled as he jumped down from the air. "You three are up early. Hey, why the long faces?" he asked. "And right before a mission like this too. I would've thought you'd be more excited. Akemi," my head shot up at the sound of my name, "this is your first official mission with us as well, cheer up!" I nodded to him and smiled.

"Of course! It **is** my first mission with you isn't it?" I asked with forced enthusiasm.

We waited for an hour or so for Obito to arrive. Apparently Obito was usually a half hour or so late and gave some excuse every time. it was their routine. For about 5 minutes, we listened Obito trying to explain how an elderly woman was walking home with her hands full of groceries when she tripped and that he had helped her home before coming to the gate. After that, we set off to find and raid the fort.

It took a little over the estimated four days, seeing as we got lost a few times. I wasn't allowed to say anything about when we were going the wrong way. How was i supposed to tell them we were going in the incorrect direction without telling them how I knew? When Kakashi was in my head, I had only let him see the information i had on Konoha itself, not the geography of the areas around it. I knew how to successfully navigate the fastest route to anywhere in the World from any point in the World.

We sat around a small fire in the afternoon of the fifth day about twenty miles away from the fort discussing the plan for that night. "So, here's how it will go." Minato Sensei began. "Akemi and Rin, you are going to be posing as lost children in the woods while Obito, Kakashi, and I take the uniforms of a scouting unit and get all five of us in. Remember, it's up to you two to find and take the scroll. The three of us will pretend to be escorting you wherever and-"

"Sensei," Obito interupted, "How exactly are we supposed to pose as guards? We're only thirteen!"

Minato Sensei sighed. "Well, Obito, you two will be using a transformation jutsu to make you look like adults." he replied simply. "Anyway," he continued, "you four will do your best to avoid guards, weapons, and causing any kind of trouble. Am I understood?"

"Yes," we all said in unison.

"All right then, back to the plan. The three of us will be pretending to escort you two girls around the fort and you need to get yourselves 'lost'," he said making air qoutes with his fingers. "then find the scroll and hide it in you bag. We'll find you again and get ourselves out of the area. We will then switch uniforms and go home." He pulled out a map of the area. It had a lot of lines and writing in red that marked where the guards would be, what direction they would be walking in, how many people were in each squad, et cetera.

We discussed when and where we would capture the patrol and studied the route our squad would be taking back to the fort and by sunset, we had captured the guards and the boys had switched uniforms and used transformation jutsus to make them taller. The guard uniforms covered their entire bodies and hid their faces though, so they didn't really need to change their physical appearance much. But, they did anyways, as a precaution.

Rin and I used jutsus as well to make ourselves look 6 years old, in my case 7 because I ended up being taller with the transformation, and to change our clothes. We were both dark, curly haired little girls with muck on our faces and on our raggedy clothes. We were careful to make ourselves look alike so we could pass as sisters. I told Rin to make it look like she had a few scars and fresh wounds in order to look like we had had a few run-in's with wild animals. All I had to do was stop using the chakra that usually hide my own scars. Using the transformation, I made some of them look newer than the others.

Minato-Sensei told us to sit and wait at our little camp for a moment while he went to get water from a nearby stream.

"Akemi…." Kakashi started, eyeballing the scars that were on my face and arms. "Um…."

"What is it Kakashi?" asked Rin.

"Well, it's just…" he mumbled. I kept the expression on my face neutral. "I'm not sure that you should be showing so many of those, Akemi." he finished quickly.

"Ya, I mean, there are so many scars that it looks kinda fake." Obito added.

I sighed "They're not fake Obito. They have always been there. I just hide them with my chakra." I said matter-of-factly.

"What?!" Rin exclaimed. "Not even Minato-sensei has that many scars! And he's at least decade older than you. He's a jonin who's been in multiple battles. Who was your healer and what kind of idiot were they?"

It was then that I realized how loud Rin could be when she was angry. Kakashi opened his mouth to speak but I was faster. "Relax Rin." I said, rubbing my ears to stop the ringing caused by her loud voice. "I used to live in a bad neighborhood. It's not that big a deal. And my doctor wasn't able to heal them properly because the gashes had mud in and next to them. They were infected for a week and by the time the infection was healed, it was too late. They had already become scars."

"Kakashi, did you know about this?!" Rin shrieked at him.

Kakashi put on a scowl but replied with a calm voice rather than an angry one. "I've know since I had to get into her head." he poked the side of my head again. "Why are you guys so concerned about these scars anyway? She just said that they're not a very big deal."

Obito seemed to have found yet another reason to hate his teammate. "Why you little-" his growl was interrupted by Minato-sensei suddenly dropping in the middle of out circle from a nearby tree branch.

"What's all the yelling about?" his face was calm but his voice betrayed his annoyance and anger.

"They decided that my scars are worth getting worked up over." I explained. "And before you say anything, they're not fake."

It took Minato-sensie a minute to process this and we all waited in silence as he thought about my last two sentences. When he did respond, though, his voice was calm. "So you covered them up with chakra this whole time, then?" I nodded. "That must take a lot of patience and control. Very impressive, Akemi."

"Thank you." I smiled. I seemed to be the only one who wasn't felling tense and awkward, which seemed very much backwards to me. They were my scars, after all.

As the others focused on their own thoughts, I directed my attention to a small rustling coming from about a quarter-mile away. "Sensie, shouldn't we get going?" I asked nonchalantly. "I mean, its almost time for the sunset patrol to be here, right?"

"Oh, yes, ah, right." he replied distractedly. "Well then, Obito and Kakashi, we are going to pretend to be rough but don't actually hurt the girls, okay?" Obito responded with a bored "sure" while Kakashi gave a respectful "yes, sir". We grabbed our gear and hid it between a few bramble bushes so nobody would be able to grab it without getting a few scratches and thorns stuck in their uniform and/or arms.

As soon as we got going we ran into the sunset patrol. There were four relatively tall, muscular men and one scrawnier guy that looked like a new recruit. The tallest man was in the front with the three other men right behind, almost completely hiding the rookie. Rin and I stood in the front with Kakashi and Obito flanking us. Minato-sensei was walking directly behind. The leader cast a long enough shadow that it covered me and Rin almost completely.

He addressed Sensei in a deep voice. "So, this is where you three have been." he said checking me and Rin over with his dark gaze. "Where's your fourth patrol member?"

"He's finishing up the sweep of the area, sir." Minato-sensei lied. "We found these two and decided to go back to base, but he went on ahead with finishing the patrol."

"All right then." the leader responded. "So did these two give you any trouble?" He sounded more curious than he did suspicious. Apparently these men trusted each other with their lives, if they believed this so easily.

"No." Kakashi said next to me. He put his hand on my shoulder and i put on my best frightened face when i felt his touch. "They were passed out behind a tree. Barely enough strength to speak, let alone stand. We gave 'em some food and water and waited until they were well rested enough to walk the half-mile back. That's what took so long, sir."

The men right behind the leader spoke next. "Well that seems rather obvious. I mean, look at the poor kids."

"You guys had better get them back so they can be treated by the medics." directed the man to the left.

"Got it." replied Obito. "Let's get going." He gently pushed Rin and Kakashi gave my shoulder a small shove and we stumbled forward. The other patrol made way for us to pass. The rookie eyed us curiously from behind one of the taller men.

We walked for about three minutes without saying a word until Rin broke the silence. "They were friendlier than I would've expected." she remarked.

"Ya," added Obito, "it's almost as if they've know each other for a long time."

"That could be a problem, though." Kakashi pointed out.

"How?" Rin questioned.

"Well, if they trusted us so easily, it means that they are familiar enough with each other to be able to trust easily, but they obviously haven't know each other very long and they can't be very close." I said.

"If they had been closer or had know each other for a longer period of time, they would've noticed that we weren't who we said we were right away." Minato-sensei continued. Obito nodded in understanding.

"So, in other words, we just took a huge risk without realizing it until, under different circumstances, it would've been too late." I finished. Kakashi grunted in agreement.

"So, Akemi," Rin said after a few minutes. "When we first met, your eyes were red…how does that work? I'd been meaning to ask you."

"They were red then too?" asked Kakashi.

"Ya, they were." I replied.

"So, do they get like that when you're pissed?" He asked. I nodded in response.

"Okay, so they turn red when you're angry. Is there some kinda connection between your emotions and chakra? Because chakra is the only thing that I think can change different aspects of the body like that." Rin said.

"You guys sure are curious today aren't you?" Minato-sensei asked sarcastically.

I giggled. "They really are, Sensei. But, Rin, you're correct, actually." My voice became serious again. "My chakra is really messed up though and at some point in time, it connected itself to my emotions."

"And you mentioned that you were in the ANBU black ops?" Obito questioned.

"How long was I unconscious for, exactly?" Kakashi was officially lost.

"Um…from about five-ish to, maybe…say, eight or nine o'clock. Possibly ten. So approximately three to five hours." I calculated out loud.

"Impressive. You remembered all that information." Rin marveled. I shifted uncomfortably at the comment. '_How should I respond to this without giving anything away?_' I wondered.

Rin's Point of View

Akemi was uncomfortable at her remark. Rin could tell that much. '_I would've considered that a compliment._' she thought in anger. Before she could continue, Obito stopped next to her. Rin looked up and gasped.

A few hundred yards away loomed a huge stone castle with tall pointed towers and a huge wooden gate at least ten times Minato-sensei's hight. Archers stood on the walls and other guards with multiple different chakra-activated weapons stood around the perimeter and went in and out of side entrances on horseback. Some of the higher-ups directed the younger soldiers to different doors and sheds while others went to meet up with an upcoming-patrol team or get ready for dinner.

"Well," Minato-sensei breathed, "let's get you two inside." He patted Rin's back to get her moving. They all walked past the guards who regarded the group curiously. They stared for long periods of time before going back to whatever they had previously been doing but no one bothered the intruders as they walked through the gigantic double doors and into the surprisingly bright corridors.

"Hey, you three!" shouted a squeaky voice them. Running towards Team Minato was a little boy that was no older than eight. "Where are you going?" he asked innocently.

"Well, um, uh," Obito stammered.

"We are going to see the boss." Kakashi finished impatiently.

The boy's eyes widened in that adorable little-kid-who-just-realized-that-they-could-be-of-some-use way. "OH OH OH!" he shouted. They boy was jumping up and down now. "Papa is in his work place! Come with me, I was just going there!" he begged.

"Ah, sure thing kid." Minato-sensei murmured, realizing his chance to easily find the leader's office. The boy made his way around the three tall men in transformation jutsus hurriedly but stopped dead when he saw the two girls and their worn-out expressions.

"What are you doing with them?!" he screeched. Obito opened his mouth to explain but the child had already grabbed their wrists and was dragging them away. He was squeezing so hard that Rin felt her arm begin to burn.

Then he started running. Running and dragging Rin and Akemi behind him as his nails started to dig into her skin. After a few minutes of racing past turns and doors, Minato-sensei, Obito, and Kakashi had gotten lost in the labyrinth of stone.

About ten more minutes of running and the burning in her wrist and bitting her lip to keep the screams inside, Rin tripped on one of the cracks in the floor, dragging Akemi and the boy down with her. Rin's head hit the cold stone and she screamed so loudly that her own ears rang.

Akemi's gasping and panicked sounds were just a quiet buzz in her still-ringing ears and the shaking and pressure coming from her shoulder was almost undetectable as Rin felt herself loose consciousness.

Obito's Point of View

The shrill scream came from close by. It was Rin's, no doubt about it. Obito felt his heart start to race as the adrenaline filled him with the energy he had lost trying to catch the little boy.

He, Kakashi, and Sensei started racing down the halls, twisting and turning until they heard a scratchy voice yelling "Wake up, wake up, wake up! Open your e-" and a fit of coughing. It seemed to be none other than Akemi. She seemed like quite the actress.

They rounded the last corner to find a transformed Rin bleeding a little from a scratched forehead with an Akemi choking out the last of the coughs and the pale little boy next to her, watching in horror. By the time Akemi had "recovered", Obito had run to Rin and gotten a rag out to stop the blood. He squatted down next to her and pressed it to the red area. He had seen Rin do this enough times to know the procedure.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Kakashi kneeling next to Akemi and helping her steady her breath. Minato-sensei was murmuring quietly to the little boy, telling him that Obito knew basic first aid and that Rin's "big sister" knew how to use healing herbs, "judging from the stash of herbs in her shoulder bag", so that he wouldn't panic.

Obito had just about stopped the bleeding after a few minutes. Akemi tugged lightly on his sleeve to get him off and applied a mixture of multiple crushed herbs. Kakashi, who had started keeping watch and shooing away curious guards as soon as Akemi had stopped coughing, came over and wrapped Rin's injured head in white gauze. Obito got up and took his place as watchman, glancing back every few seconds.

His heart was pounding still, adrenaline making him twitchier and twitchier. Seeing the small child's body that he knew was actually the girl he loved more than anything on the floor bleeding as her so called comrade, Akemi, sat there and pretended to cough…

That was it! Akemi couldn't be here to help if such a prodigy at healing such as herself just sat there and watched somebody bleed on the floor. What just happened proved it. The ANBU men who took her must have been right when they said that she wasn't actually here to train!

Rin's bleeding had fully stopped within a few minutes after her head was wrapped. During which Obito had spent telling other guards to let them handle the situation. If that didn't work he simply threatened to tell the boss that they were causing trouble. That got the guards practically running for the door or the bend in the hallway they came from. Minato-sensei had managed to get the boy, whose name turned out to be Daisuke, to get his father, the boss.

Obito waited until Daisuke's footsteps had faded down the twisting and turning hallways and passages. That's when he turned to Akemi and began to speak…

Akemi's Point of View

"Akemi!" Obito growled at me from his spot by the curve to the next hall.

I sighed and answered calmly. "Yes, Obito? What is it?"

He began to walk towards me and i could almost feel his anger rolling off of him in waves. A hand reached over and grabbed my shirt collar and I was lifted upwards so that my feet dangled in the air at least a foot off the ground. "Why did you just sit there and watch?" his voice vibrated with an illogically large amount of rage.

"I'm sorry Obito, I don't quite understand your question. Did you mean to ask "Why were you pretending to cough while Rin suffered from a scrape"?" I mocked.

His grip on my shirt tightened until i heard a few threads snap. "Why you little-" he began.

"Obito!" Minato-sensei warned. "Not in the middle of a mission! You and Akemi can sort this out later. Rin is gonna be fine. She's just unconscious." he informed.

Obito gritted his teeth and lowered me down to the ground and released my shirt. It was at the moment I looked into his eyes that I let myself give in to my natural instinct which was to back away from possible danger. My footsteps echoed a little bit as Kakashi and Minato-sensei waited for us.

"Hey you three!" the captain we had met on the way here was running towards us with Daisuke from the direction of the boss' office. He came up to us and I heard a rattling sound with him.

I knew what his goal was immediately. He had handcuffs and chains with him. He had found out that we were intruders. I took a deep breath and ran forward to meet him in the middle. He slowed down but I sped up and just before collision, I jumped over his head and landed behind him. I turned around before he had the chance to react, grabbing the cuffs and chains that were still fastened to his belt and yanked as hard as i could.

I used him like a wrecking ball and swung him so he knocked Daisuke against a wall, which made him loose consciousness. After swinging the squad captain around a few times, I threw him as hard as I could and he actually ended up flying past Obito and back down the hall.

The captain fell through an open door next to the bend. Focusing chakra on me feet to speed myself up, I ran and locked the door behind him. I looked back to find Obito, Kakashi, and Minato-sensei staring at me in awe. "He found out that we're not supposed to be here," I explained. "I say that we find the scroll and get out ASAP!"

"NO!" Obito yelled. We all stared at him in shock. "I'm sorry Sensei, but I want this cleared up now." He said firmly. Sensei nodded his head slowly and made a "hurry up" motion with his hand. Obito took a deep breath. "Akemi, can I ask you something?" I let out a breath, knowing that this was going to be about Rin. "Rin was hurt." I was right. "You didn't help her. All you did," he began to raise his voice in anger and Minato-sensei shushed him. "all you did was pretend to have an asthma attack. Explain."

"Well Obito," I began, "she was just unconscious from the shock and pain from being dragged around by the arm. On top of that, she wasn't used to the shorter legs and-" I was cut off by Obito grabbing me by my clothes and lifting me into the air so that my feet were dangling below me again. I kept me expression calm, even as he shoved me against the wall.

He leaned in close to me and hissed in my ear "Do. Not. Give. Me. That. Shit." His breath tickled my nose and as it mingled with mine.

"Obito!" Kakashi half whispered, half yelled. "Put her down now!" He ordered as Minato-sensei finished wrapping Rin's foot in bandages and lifted her in his arms.

"No. Kakashi you guys can't finish the mission with me. Obito obviously isn't planning to cooperate with me any time soon. Right Obito?" I asked lightly. His face returned to its calm self as he lowered me to the ground. He grunted in agreement, still pissed at me. I felt my lips curl into a small smirk. "So in that case," I began, "why don't you and I make a little bet Obito?" His eyes widened along with his teacher's and comrade's.

"What kind of bet?" He scowled.

My grin widened. "I will go search for the scroll on my own while you boys go look with each other in a separate group. If I find it first, I get the entire team's earnings, because, in all honesty, I could've been in and out of here in a matter of minutes if I was on my own. Plus, I will have been the one to actually achieve the goal of the mission while you guys wander around blindly, not knowing where to go. Unless any of you guys know your way around the fort. I myself won't have a problem because I took the time to memorize the building's blueprints."

I could almost feel the confusion rolling off Obito in waves. He stood for a few seconds, considering my offer until Minato-sensei pointed something out. "Akemi, Obito can't decide this on his own. It's the **whole** team's earnings. All of us need to discuss something like this before making a deal and I feel that we don't have time for that." he said, glancing down the hall.

"And not all of us can speak at the moment." Kakashi jerked his thumb at Rin.

I chuckled. "But you're forgetting that I'm not officially part of Team Minato, thus if I can complete the task on my own, it will be as if I did the **mission** alone. Oh, and regardless of wether or not you guys helped," I added, "if I get the scroll back to Konoha and turn it in before you even arrive, I receive the reward."

"So what you're saying," Obito started slowly, "is that you will do the mission on your own anyways because I'm not getting along with you?"

"That's correct." I confirmed.

"Akemi you can't do that!" Minato-sensei exclaimed.

"Too late to change my mind **or** Obito's mistrust in me. I don't like being mistrusted and I don't think that I need to take this." I frowned. "So if you will excuse me, gentlemen." My hand shot to my kunai pouch and i brought out a small black orb and smashed it to the ground. White smoke shot out and I sprinted down the tunnel.

Kakashi's Point Of View

Kakashi opened his eyes as the smoke had cleared. He looked around to find that everyone's transformation had been removed by the smoke.

"Kakashi you have track her." Minato-sensei said. He took a few sniffs, finding that there weren't any scents in the air to track her with and she seemed to be too far away for him to hear her footsteps.

He shook his head in defeat. "Sensei, I can't. I think the vapor was water-based. It erased all scents and gave her the time she needed to get away. But on the other hand, it got rid of our scents too. In other words, we can't be tracked either. Let's thank Akemi for that next time we see her." he suggested.

Minato-sensei let out an exasperated sigh. "Let's go get her before she gets herself hurt by the other guards." He took off running and Kakashi followed closely behind. Obito's footsteps were last. '_That idiot!_' Kakashi thought bitterly. 'I_f he hadn't made such a big deal about Rin, we wouldn't have to chase the only person who has memorized the fort's blueprints!_'

After twenty or so minutes of twists, turns, dead ends and going through doors, knocking out guards, and wishing that Akemi hadn't taken off, they heard a huge BOOM and saw a flash of white light so intense, the three had to turn and shut their eyes tight. The noise was so loud that the ground shook hard enough to knock Kakashi to the ground. He landed on his shoulder. Hard. He did his best to get up as fast as he could between moaning and trying to pry his eyes open.

Minato-sensei and Obito had also been knocked to the ground. Rin had fallen from Sensei's arms and was now lying near Obito. Kakashi went to help Sensei off the ground while Obito crawled to Rin to see if she was okay.

It was difficult for the three to see because of the black spots bouncing across their vision. Obito lifted Rin up too quickly and began to wobble beside Kakashi. He caught and steadied his teammate before leaning on the wall to recompose himself. It took about five minutes or so for them all to fully process what had just happened.

"Wait a minute…" Kakashi spoke in spite of how dizzy he was. He shook his head and managed to clear most of the blackness in his eyes by blinking rapidly. "Akemi! What if something happened to her just now?!" he felt panic rising in his chest as he yelled in concern for the girl who had saved his life, not once but twice.

Minato-sensei heard him and stood up only to stumble back into the wall, gritting his teeth with one eye closed, leaning against the cold, sharp stone. They waited a few minutes thinking to themselves and dreading the possibility of Akemi being majorly injured until a small groan interrupted them.

It was Rin! Kakashi craned his neck to look at her. She opened an eye and shivered before moaning. "My head hurts." she complained and shut her eye again. Kakashi scowled. '_If it wasn't for Rin being so clumsy in the first place, we wouldn't be in this mess. We could've started on the trip home by now!_' he thought crossly. He took a few deep breaths and stood.

"We need to go, Sensei." Kakashi said in a commanding voice. Minato-sensei grunted in agreement as he stood up straight and brushed himself off.

"Obito, I'm going to carry Rin and we'll keep looking for Akemi. Hopefully we find her before the soldiers do." Sensei said with little enthusiasm. He walked right up to Obito and they carefully rested Rin on his back and as soon as she was secure, they took off again.

It was only ten or so minutes later that they heard a shriek that shattered the glass light bulbs above their head and made the wooden doors, sturdy as they were, tremble and a few even fell off their hinges. They recognized the voice immediately.

"That was Akemi!" Kakashi shouted and took off. He heard the frantic footsteps of Minato and Obito trying to keep up with him. But between the ringing in their ears and their lowered stamina level, they were quiet far behind. The team ran through hallways and doors blindly until they caught the faint sound of chatter.

"-and I was really surprised when the dark energy suddenly disappeared and was replaced with yours, Angel. Then imagine my shock to find you running into my exorcist trap that I had set for those demons in the first place!" bellowed a deep voice coming from ahead. With the voice came the light of a torch and a long shadow.

"Ya, thanks **ever so much** for that surprise, Master Mamoru. But it completely fits. Your advanced exorcism techniques, I mean. And even your **name** means protector (The name Mamoru really does mean "protector". Look it up if you don't believe me), so I guess it's only fitting that you know how to kill **them**." said a quiet and hoarse voice. And it wasn't just any voice. It was Akemi's!

'_But who's she talking to?_' Kakashi wondered with narrowed eyes. He glanced to the side to see Sensei set Rin down so that she was lying next to the wall and the three walked quietly next to the bend in the hallway and prepared for a fight.

But when Akemi and the deep-voiced man rounded the corner, to Kakashi's surprise, he found that she was actually being given a piggy-back-ride by a tall, muscular young man who looked only slightly older than Minato-sensei. They stopped short as they saw the members of Team Minato and stared for a few long seconds.

Akemi smiled over the man's, Mamoru's, shoulder with dark circles under her eyes. Although, Kakashi was sure that they weren't there when she ran off. "Hi guys." she greeted them sleepily. "I believe that I'm done here. Have fun looking for the scroll." she smiled and rested her head on Mamoru's shoulder.

Mamoru sighed and started walking past them and down the hall and started up his conversation with Akemi again. "So, Angel? Why would you know a jutsu as advanced as that one?"

"Wait, Akemi!" Kakashi yelled after her. She lifted her head and turned to face him as Mamoru kept walking. "Where are you going?!" She smiled back at him an waved. She leaned forward and whispered something into her stead's ear and he took off running and yelling Daisuke's name.

By the time the team had caught up to Mamoru, he was kneeling next to an unconscious boy's body. It was Daisuke. So **Mamoru** was Daisuke's father as well as the Commander of the soldiers at the fort.

"Mamoru, is it?" Minato-sensei asked, trying to get the man's attention. His ears twitched and he looked up at them.

"Yes? How can I help you?" Mamoru asked turning back to his son.

"Where is Akemi? And why do you treat her as an old friend? She came to take your scroll!" He exclaimed, seemingly caught up in his own confusion and dizziness.

"Akemi? Who's that?" Mamoru asked slowly while wrapping Daisuke's arm in gauze. "Ohhhh, Akemi. That one of her must be an alias'. Do you mean Angel?"

"The name "Akemi" is an alias?" asked Obito.

"Well, obviously. Somebody of her status would **have** to have at least several fake names. Though it seems that she doesn't know you people well enough to tell you her real name." Mamoru explained.

"And how exactly do you know that it's a pseudonym and not her name?" Kakashi questioned irritably.

"I am friends with one of her superiors." the Commander lifted his son in his arms and began to walk towards the door where the squad captan had been thrown into by Akemi/Angel. "I never met...ah...Akemi before but I know they way their ranking system and everything works in her village." He pulled out a ring of keys and unlocked the door to let the man out.

"But-" Obito's question was interrupted by another BOOM. This one, however, was not as loud and didn't shake the fort. "What now?!" the Uchiha screamed.

"Well, that was most likely Akemi embarking on her long flight back to Konoha." Mamoru explained plainly.

"Wait, flight?!" Kakashi asked loudly as everyone, including the Commander carrying his unconscious son and Minato-sensei carrying Rin, ran outside to see what had happened. As soon as they emerged from now semi-dark labyrinth of hallways and doors, they found a large ring of soldiers and rookies. Team Minato and Mamoru walked through the crowd to the center of the huge circle of guards only to find a few gigantic, pure white feathers laying on the ground.

"It looks like Akemi summoned some type of huge bird or something and got away with the scroll." Obito murmured.

"Well then, we should probably follow suit and get back home." Minato-sensei replied. "Mamoru?" he turned to the Commander.

"Hm?"

"I'm fairly sure that I know the answer to this but did you give Akemi the scroll?" Sensei questioned.

"Scroll...scroll...let me think..." Mamoru sat down with his legs crossed and put Daisuke down. "Oh, do you mean the letter I was supposed to deliver to the Hokage tomorrow? Because that's the only thing that I gave to...Akemi."

"Wait, that was going to be delivered to Konoha in the first place?!" Kakashi yelled. "Why did we come all this way then?"

"And why is this letter even important, anyway?" Obito grumbled angrily to the man sitting on the ground, playing with his son's hair.

"I can't tell you." Mamoru replied distractedly. "Even if I did, You wouldn't understand a word of it. And I mean that literally, as in it's in a different language. Akemi's original language, to be specific."

Minato, Obito, and Mamoru continued to argue about translations and such. Kakashi took a deep breath and thought about what he had learned about Akemi and wondered about how much he didn't know. '_I want to know her better than this' _he thought to himself._ 'Maybe if I chat with her more, she would actually start to consider me as a teammate…or even a trusted ally._


	5. Illusion

I landed quietly on top of the Hokage building where Soot sat waiting for me in her lion form. I then folded my wings in and let them melt into my back. I felt myself fall forward as she ran towards me. She caught me on her back. Soot helped me lie down facing up with my arms and legs spread and a certain white scroll in my right hand.

Soot shrunk down to her regular full-grown cat form and sat by my shoulder, her paws tucked under her. I raised my left arm and stroked her a few times. "You know, Soot, I met an interesting fellow today." I said with my eyes glued to the shimmering white stars above. "His name is Mamoru and he has a son named Daisuke. He is allies with the Third Seat Councilman, Lady Green." I frowned as a familiar energy revealed itself. My head turned to see Master standing near the stairs that led down to the offices in the building.

"That could mean trouble for us, you know." he said as he walked over to me and sat down on the cold stone roof. "I don't want **her** to know that we're here. If this Mamoru guy tells the Council that you're here…that **you** are in a restricted World, that would just go to show how much you have improved with your studies." He paused and took a deep breath before continuing. "It's been a while hasn't it?" he asked.

"Ya, and it's creeping me out." I murmured. "You'd think that these guys on the Council would've sent another assassin team to put me in chains by now."

Master took a deep breath. "You know, if you told them about your…ah…"little plan" for after you graduate, which I'm still against for reasons that have much more importance than any of what I'm about to say, they just might leave you alone." he finished slowly.

"Ya," I replied, "I know that but…well…I just don't think they'd let me do it if I mentioned it. When I get killed for doing it, they may think that they've lost a valuable asset to their military. Not that we would need a military after do it. But then again, who knows if I'll even live long enough to see even my graduation."

After that we stayed on the roof for quite some time, just staring at the stars in silence. As I was just about to fall asleep, Master seemed to get a bolt of energy and stood up quickly. "Well then kiddo, let's get back to the house, shall we?" he asked loudly with an outstretched hand. I took it and he pulled me up. We made our way to the stairs and went down.

I screamed and sat bolt upright in bed, panting in the dim light of dawn that shone through the curtains. It was only seconds later that Master burst through the doors to see what was wrong. His face went from fearful to calm as he realized that I had just woken up from a nightmare. "Really kid, why-why do you do this to yourself? You know better than to fall asleep without one of those annoying beepy timers." he scolded as he walked over and sat in the bed next to me.

I felt his warm hand stroke my back reassuringly. "I'm sorry Master. I was reading and I guess I fell asleep…wait where is my book?!" My eyes widened in panic and I scrambled around on the bed. I looked under the blankets and sheets and Master helped by checking the floor and under the bed. Luckily I found the book in less than a minute. It had been under my pillow the whole time!

I held the small leather-bound pack of paper close to me and a relieved smile spread across my sweaty face. Master took a deep breath and sat at the foot of my bed. "You really do love that book, don't you?" he asked for the millionth time since I became his apprentice. I nodded as my smile got even bigger.

We sat in silence for what seemed like minutes, though it had actually been hours. At about 9:30 A.M. the door opened with a small creaking noise and a dark haired boy in loose black pajamas poked his head in. "Good morning," he said with a sleepy smirk on his face. "My mom told me that we had guests but I wanted to see for myself. I-I just got back from a mission so I never came before now." he explained.

I grinned sweetly at him from where I sat on the bed, still holding the book tightly against my chest. "Well anyways," he started again, "I'm the Hokage's younger son, Sarutobi Asuma (Asuma Sarutobi). Who are you?"

I put the book down on the dark-brown wooden nightstand beside the bed before replying. "I'm Akemi...and you don't need to stay behind the door, you know." I said playfully. His smirk remained plastered to his face as he opened the door all the way and stepped inside the small, plain white room.

"And I'm her teacher. And I just remembered that I may have forgotten to make breakfast and tea…" Master's voice trailed off as he stood and walked to the door, ruffling hair Asuma's and messing it up as he exited the room.

"Oh! I have something for you!" His hand reached into his pajama pants pocket and pulled out a small leather sack that made a jingling noise as it moved. "My dad said that this was from a mission you finished at the beginning of the week and to apologize for giving it to you so late."

I walked over to Asuma and took the tiny pull-string bag from him. "Thanks for giving this to me...and tell your dad that the late return isn't a problem."

"Sure, but…I hate to sound rude but why can't you tell him?" He asked shyly.

I laughed. "I'm going to training, silly." I replied, amused. "Anyways, Master should be about ready with the tea any second now. Why don't you go ahead while I get dressed?" I asked, trying to tell him to leave without being rude. He got the message and turned around, hand reaching for the door knob. At the door post he turned and said, "It was good to meet you, Akemi."

Kakashi's Point of View

Kakashi woke up at around dawn the day after arriving back in Konoha.

He had been dreaming. It started out as a sweet dream where his parents were alive and the three of them were having a picnic on a somewhat steep hill. They were talking, laughing, playing games, and eating in the afternoon sunshine.

But that was where things started to go south. The sun was suddenly swallowed by the dark circle that was the moon. "It's an eclipse!" his father had said excitedly.

"No…Father. It's not. The entire sky is turning dark!" The dark disc was expanding, engulfing the blackish-blue in pure blackness. Everything melted away, leaving only Kakashi sitting on flat land, not the grassy hillside. He tried to scream out. He was very afraid and had no idea why. He shut his eyes, thinking only of a light, even a small one, so that he could find his parents, wishing and giving all his focus to the thought of light.

His felt a small tugging sensation in his gut and opened his eyes. Sitting in front of him on the now-cobblestone floor, was an old-fashioned lantern with a thick wire for a handle. A small, orange flame was burning on the inside of the lantern's glass exterior. He picked it up and held it higher in an attempt to see farther.

Suddenly, he heard a deafening shriek. It was high pitched and feminine and didn't seem to come from any particular direction. The sound simply surrounded him. 'Mother, is that you?!' he cried. The flicker of light in his lantern was blown out by the wind with a deep sigh and darkness surrounded him once again. Kakashi tried to step forward and found himself slipping and sliding, as if the stone had turned to ice.

He tried desperately to regain his balance, terrified of falling, though he didn't know why. He told himself to stand up strait but the more he tried, he had to squirm to stay upright even more than before. At one point, he was too sore to keep up his struggle. Kakashi felt his heart pounding hard in his chest as he gave up his struggle and let himself slide backwards into the darkness.

He felt himself falling falling falling into the darkness. He started to panic because of the long fall but soon, with a jolt, he felt his back hit something hard just as his fear was about to take over. That was when he woke up to find himself on the floor of his bedroom. He had fallen off his bed and was tangled in the white sheets.

The young Chuunin sat up and laughed to himself, finding the bit of his dream about his parents hilariously ridiculous.

'I still can't figure out what that scream was…I've never heard a scream like that. It sounded terrified…' Kakashi thought to himself as he walked down the streets of Konoha.

Team Minato still had a few days left of recovery and break time, seeing as it had taken them almost a week to get back to the village. They still needed to get what small amount of money they were going to be paid for taking the time to travel and sneak through the fort's defense systems. It was apparently going to be taken out of Akemi's sum.

None of the four shinobi were supposed to go on any missions until they were paid and their break was over. However, Kakashi hated to sit at home all day doing nothing so he decided to go try to perform a new jutsu that he'd been wanting to figure out. He walked past several neighborhoods, passing house after house after house, until he got to the restricted area that was closed for anyone of lower ranking than chunin.

As the fenced-off area came into sight, Kakashi pulled out his shinobi I.D. card to show to Manami, the jonin who was almost always on guard by the entrance. She had long black hair and eyes that were almost red. She often wore a simple black or red shirt, denim pants, and a choker (imagine Touka Takanashi from Chu-2 if you've seen it or just look up a picture).

He walked up to the small desk and chair where Manami sat, reading a magazine. "Miss Koizumi?" Kakashi addressed with his arm extended to show his I.D. card.

She waved it away, not looking up. "Mornin' kid and you don't need to show me you card. I already know that you're a chunin."

"I know that but it's our little routine isn't it, Miss?" he smirked. This time Manami looked up with her usual serious, no-funny-buisness expression and laid the magazine down on the oak-wood desk.

"Ya, I guess it is." she murmured. "Feel free to let yourself in." She tossed him a ring of keys. They jingled as he caught them in his hands and he grunted his thanks. Just as he unlocked the gate next to him, Manami turned to him. "Why are you up so early this morning?" she questioned. "Aren't you usually here a little after ten o'clock?"

He stopped and turned to face her. "I can't seem to be able to sleep in this morning." he muttered.

"Are the nightmares back again, kid?" she whispered.

He laughed. "They're definitely nightmares, Manami. But not the same as when my father died." His expression turned cold. "These are different."

"Different how?" she asked calmly.

"It's just…my parents are there and they're very happy and such at the beginning but…eventually I find myself in fall into some black hole or something. It felt like I've fallen backwards but as I fall, it feels like I'm floating. Does that even make sense?" Manami nodded and made a circling motion with her hand, telling him to continue. "At some point in the dream, I hear screaming. It's never at the same time in the dream. Last night they came before I fell. I woke up on the floor and I was dizzy."

She sat very still for a few minutes, thinking about the description Kakashi had given her about the horrific dreams of darkness, until finally she spoke. "How long have these dreams been going on for?" she asked.

Kakashi took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and counted the nights he had been tortured by the nightmares. "Since we left the fort." he replied, opening his eyes. "We were sent to retrieve something from a fort on a mission and…well, I'm sure you've heard of the kunoichi that the ANBU were investigating?"

"I think every jonin has heard about that, kid." Manami muttered irritatedly.

"Well, she's actually just a thirteen-year-old girl named Akemi. Her teacher is friends with Lord Third and she came on the mission with us. She got into an argument with Obito and ended up going ahead of us and got the scroll we needed to retrieve. We were running around trying to find her and to get what we had come for. At one point there was some sort of earthquake and a bright light and then not long after that she-" Kakashi's voice completely shut off as he realized who had been the one shrieking in his ears at night, haunting him.

"After that she what?" Manami asked impatiently.

He took a few big gulps of air, trying to keep calm, and continued. "After that she screamed, and it was loud. Not loud like the kind of loud that makes your ears itch. Loud as in the glass lights completely shattered and made our ears ring for at least a half hour after. She was in a lot of pain but…when we saw her after that, she just seemed tired. She wasn't injured but I **know** it was Akemi that was screaming."

Manami had a worried look on her face. "Maybe you were scared by the earthquake and the screaming so you had a nightmare." she suggested.

"But why they keep coming back is what has me the most concerned." Kakashi admitted.

Manami opened her mouth but closed it again, to put a sympathetic smile on her face. "Well, I guess you can talk to her. Maybe that will help." she suggested.

After Kakashi had finished talking with Manami and a few hours of practicing his ninjutsu, he set out to find Akemi. It didn't take long to figure out where she might be; he knew that she was staying at the Hokage's house, and was probably training in the same area.

Kakashi walked through the streets of Konoha in the general direction of the Hokage's mansion, making twists and turns, sudden jolts, and, when there was a big enough crowd, he jumped up onto buildings to avoid it.

Then he got near Ichiraku Ramen, which had been constantly crowded since its opening day. There weren't as many people today, seeing as it was a weekday and lunchtime had just passed, but there was still a massive mob blocking half of the street. The other half filled with people trying to walk to and from places. Kakashi managed to shove his way through the crowd of people waiting to order their food, only to bump right into Asuma.

"Hey Asuma." he greeted.

"Uh, hey Kakashi. So I heard that you guys got a new teammate." he said in a teasing way.

"Yes, we do, but I think that it's just temporary. By the way have you seen her?" Kakashi asked. "My new teammate, I mean."

Asuma chuckled. "Ya I have. She went out to training this morning. I think she mentioned a big tree or something like that before going out the door after breakfast. Why?"

"I just needed to talk to her." Kakashi said with a calm voice. Then he scowled, an animalistic instinct taking over and making him put up his guard. "What did you think I needed her for?"

"Oh…nothing." the genin smirked. Kakashi shook his head and walked off with an exasperated sigh. Now all he needed to do was figure out which tree she was training by. 'The best place for training around Asuma's house with big trees is just outside the village borders, I think. She's definitely in the forest, but where?' he wondered.

Kakashi jumped onto the roof of a two-story shop and continued to bounce on the tops of houses and buildings until he reached the end of the last neighborhood. He was about a kilometer away from the border of the village and two and a half kilometers from the forest boundary.

He decided to run to the village border and walk the rest of the way. By the time Kakashi had reached the edge of the forest, he had picked up Akemi's seemingly-dull scent. He took a quick look around to see if anyone was watching but found no one else in the area. He lowered his mask down just above his upper lip, exposing his nose so that he wouldn't loose Akemi's almost untraceable smell easily.

Kakashi followed his temporary teammate's thin scent until he heard the familiar clanging of metal against metal. He quickened his pace, not knowing if he should expect her in a regular sparing session with katanas or fighting off some spy from another village.

It seemed as if war would break out between all the shinobi villages if tensions kept rising between them and everyone with sense knew it. Kakashi kept this in mind, thinking of his teammate and village.

His jog went from slow to fast and got faster and faster until he was sprinting through the thick underbrush as the clanging got louder and more ferocious. Kakashi knew that Akemi was supposed to be at black-ops level, jonin at the very least, but how many shinobi could she really take on by herself if the spy had teammates and extra backup?

Thorns snagged on his clothes and branches tugged on his hair as he ran, faster and faster still, until he skidded to a stop. In front of him stood several trees connected to each other by ivy and sticky-looking vines. From what he could tell, the source of the sounds was on the other side. He forced his way by, ripping the irritating foliage away and managing to clear a path as the noise began to fade to a measly scraping sound.

The net of plants was thicker than Kakashi had thought; he reached the other side of them a few seconds after the noise had stopped. He stepped out of the undergrowth into a small clearing that was, to his horror, covered in a dark red liquid. It was on the surrounding trees and bushes, covered the floor, and dripped from the leaves of the trees.

The suddenly-strong smell of salt and rust on its own was almost enough to knock him off his feet. To make it worse, in the middle of the dirt laying on her back was none other than Akemi. Blood slid from her mouth down the side of her face and onto the floor where a small puddle was being formed. The small dripping sounds made Kakashi feel lightheaded. His vision began to blur.

His mind raced. 'What happened? **How **did it happen? Which village could have been this cold-hearted? Who could've possibly...wait. There aren't any other scents…no one else was here. It was just Akemi here, she was alone. No other scent. No other scent!' he thought.

"Oh thank goodness you were able to see through the genjutsu!" exclaimed a voice from above Kakashi. His head shot up as he found Akemi sitting on a tree branch near his head. "I thought you were going to faint for a minute there!" she informed as she jumped down and landed next to Kakashi.

Only, she didn't land in any puddle of blood, she landed in a puddle of water."Th-that was just a genjutsu?" Kakashi panted with his arms now planted firmly on her shoulders.

She laughed nervously. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you that badly. I thought that you were my Master. He's trying to get me to practice genjutsus on him." she explained with an apologetic smile.

Kakashi was shaking with relief. His heart was still racing and his vision was still slightly fuzzy. His head was spinning, probably the result of being under such a powerful genjutsu. The chunin felt his knees buckle under him and he fell forward.

Akemi caught him in her arms. "I'm sorry Kakashi. I'm so, **so** sorry. That was too much chakra for you to handle." she whispered, laying him on a dry patch of soil. She rested one of her hands on his chest and the other she placed gingerly against his forehead.

Kakashi shut his eyes and groaned as the usually-soft green light of healing ninjutsu stung his tired eyes. Akemi kept her hands on him for what seemed like an eternity. She had started stroking his hair at some point and she didn't stop until Kakashi opened his eyes.

"Uh, s-sorry Kakashi!" she apologized with hands zipping to her sides. He laughed at her embarrassed frown and shook his head.

"Relax Akemi." he chuckled with an outstretched hand reaching for her shoulder. She leaned closer to get her hand behind his back and help him sit up.

"Do fell okay? You don't have a headache, do you? Kakashi, do you need a painkiller or ice or something?" she pestered.

"I'm fine Akemi. Don't worry. You just…surprised me, that's all." he said, hoping that she might take it and leave it.

But of course, she didn't. She gave him a stern look. "That wasn't surprise, Kakashi. That was fear. Don't lie." she chided. "You reek of fear."

"You smell fear?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well…ya. I've got feline qualities. Just like you have dog qualities. People give off a hormonal scent when you feel certain emotions, like fear. I can smell and interpret the scents as different emotions. Most animals have that, actually. I guess yours still hasn't kicked in yet." she explained.

He sighed and turned so that he was facing her. "Akemi…can I ask you some things?" Kakashi felt close to tears from the shock of the genjutsu and the lack of sleep.

Akemi responded with an approving "mm-hm" so he took a deep breath and asked, "When we were at the fort…A-did you cause that earthquake, B-what was that big white light, and C-why were you screaming?"

Her face softened at his concerned tone. "Kakashi...I don't know if I should tell you...it might give you nightmares and-"

"I already have nightmares!" he cried. Akemi pursed her lips. She still seemed to be debating wether or not she should tell him what had happened. But why couldn't she tell him? What was this girl hiding?

Akemi shuddered. "If I tell you, Kakashi," she began slowly, "you have to promise me that you won't tell anybody else. Promise?"

"I promise." he murmured. She nodded and sat on her knees, patting the dirt in front of her to tell him to sit.

"This could take a while." she explained. He nodded and sat across from her. He felt her twitch as his knee touched hers. It was only then that he realized how close he sat to her. But Akemi didn't object so he stayed where he was and leaned his head sideways against a tree. Kakashi nodded to tell her that she could begin. "Okay then. Um...well, you know how I keep saying that I have a screwed up chakra?"

"Yes but what does that have to do with this?" he questioned.

"I'm getting to that. So, see, my chakra isn't so much messed up as I have two. Two different kinds, I mean." At Kakashi's confused expression, she nodded in understanding. It was confusing. Two chakras? How was that even possible?

"I-I'm like a...well, you've heard of a jinjuriki before right?" He nodded slowly. "Okay, well jinjuriki have their chakra and their tailed-beast's chakra. I'm like that. But I'm not a jinjuriki!" she added with her hands in front of her as if surrendering.

"So...your two chakras...what do they have to do with this?" Kakashi asked with patience.

"Well, they're very different. Imagine...black and white, almost. Opposites. The white one is mine and the black one...isn't. I have to use them separately sometimes because the second chakra...it's not particularly…**healthy** to have injected into you."

Kakashi nodded slowly. "So when you heal and do things like that, you use **your** chakra, right?" he asked.

"Exactly! But, um well...you see...I'm not...the only one with this bad chakra...and my own chakra counters it, somehow." she said. "But, see, if I use one too much, then there's an imbalance. If there's too much of either chakra, it will start to bother me and make it easy to sense my chakra. So the other group of…well, I suppose you could call them creatures, that have the same black chakra, want me dead because…uhhh..." she trailed off, a blank expression slowly taking over her face.

"Hey, Akemi, are you okay?" he asked, waving a hand in front of her eyes, which were looking blanker and sleepier by the second, and, though Kakashi didn't notice at first, Akemi's breathing rate had increased at a frighteningly rapid pace. "Akemi do you want to lie down?" he demanded. She gave a small nod in response just before falling forward.

Kakashi's hands caught her before he told them to. He straightened her out and laid her on a patch of grass. She groaned, her eyes shut tight. "H-head…" she murmurred almost inaudibly. She shut her eyes tight and curled up into a compact ball on her side. Kakashi took a few deep breaths to avoid being taken over by panic.

He wrapped an arm around her back, pulling her into his lap. "Akemi, what's wrong?" he whispered into her ear. She didn't move for a minute or two, just stayed put and panted with the occasional gasp of pain. Once her breathing became more relaxed, she opened her eyes and slowly uncurled her body.

"And that, Kakashi, is what an imbalance in chakras can do to you. Random spasms caused by the pain." she explained with an arrogant sarcasm that he thought only **she **could possibly pull of without making someone feel very irritated.

He tightened his grip around her back, pulling Akemi even closer to him, holding her and gently rocking her, his elbow cradling her head. Why he did this was unknown to him. Kakashi had never been too close to anyone, through relationships or physically touching, unless he was hauling an unconscious shinobi to a healer. Akemi didn't seem to mind the contact though.

She leaned her head against his chest and listened to his rapidly-beating heart. She chuckled, half asleep, looked up and asked "Did I scare you again, Kakashi?"

"Yeah. Please say something next time before you collapse like that again." he begged, resting his chin on top of her head. They stayed in this position for what felt like the shortest hour of Kakashi's life before falling asleep himself.

Kakashi woke up lying on his back. He blinked a few times, trying to focus his vision. After five minutes or so of rapid blinking, rubbing his eyes, and blurry vision, he decided to shut his eyes and try his other senses. First his nose. It was stuffy and covered by his mask; he couldn't smell anything. Next his touch. He felt soft grass under his hands. Not very helpful. There was grass in a lot of places. Finally his ears. He listened for a few moments and found cricket chirps and the increasingly louder sound of approaching footsteps.

Kakashi felt a powerful surge of fear. He was unable to see and smell clearly. His ears now ached from the echoing sounds and most of his body was almost completely numb. He tried moving himself to one side and found that something very warm and soft, but heavy, was blocking him. 'I'll try going the other way.' he thought. However, when he did move in the other direction, not only did he lose the soft and heavy heat source, he rolled into a deep puddle of freezing-cold water.

A gasp escaped him and he rolled back over to the other heat source, shivering. He pushed himself against it and heard a soft wincing in his sensitive ears as he pressed harder.

His eyes shot open. He found not only that his vision had cleared, but that the heat was coming from a person. It was very dark, probably nighttime, but Kakashi could still somewhat make out the features of the face that was only a few inches from his own.

Akemi.

"Oh, goodness, you're all wet!" said a deep voice. Kakashi turned his head to find Akemi's sensei looking down on the two as well as blocking out most of an almost-half-moon.

"S-s-sorry. We fell as-s-s-sleep and-" Kakashi's jittery apology was interrupted by a coughing fit.

"Don't worry about it kid. Let's just get you someplace warm okay?" he said kindly.

Akemi's Point of View

The last thing that I remembered was falling asleep with Kakashi holding me as my headache wore off, leaving me exhausted. So imagine my surprise when I find myself in Master's arms, Kakashi hanging onto his back like a monkey, walking in the village at what seemed like midnight.

I tried to sit upright immediately (it's a reflex), which caused Master to drop me in surprise. I landed hard on my back. Kakashi and Master starred down at me. I guessed that I had been sleeping soundly until now that I randomly woke up. I stood and brushed myself off.

"How long was I out?" I asked quietly.

"According to what Kakashi has told me, eleven hours or so." he said, looking like he still didn't believe it himself.

I looked up and just starred and starred and starred until Kakashi broke the silence. "What's wrong?" he asked innocently.

"Um, I-I just…I don't think I've ever slept more than six hours at a time since starting my training when I was a little kid…it's just…wow." was all I could manage.

"Really? That's not good. You should sleep more than six hours." he scolded halfheartedly.

"Whatever that's not the point." I retorted. "The point is that I slept for more than that. How did you manage to do that Kakashi?" I asked. He just yawned and shrugged.

"I think I have an idea." announced Master with a devious grin. I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Okay kid, get moving. You have eleven hours of training to make up for. I'm gonna take Kakashi home."

"W-wait just a minute! She actually slept soundly, for the first time in a while from what I can tell, and you're going to make her run around now?" he demanded.

"Kakashi, I explained to you that my chakras are unbalanced right?" I asked sweetly. Kakashi nodded slowly. "The purposed of the training is to use up my other chakra so that I can actually function properly and not break down like I did earlier." I explained.

"That's right, Kakashi. It might not look like it, but she's been in a lot of pain since using her chakra to get you into her head and all the healing she's done. Not to mention all the chakra she used at the fort and to get back from it. She doesn't have the time for sleep. She needs to use the chakra before it uses up all of her stamina." Master warned.

"Alright, if it really is bothering you, Akemi…just don't do that again. Use both chakras simultaneously from now on, okay?" he suggested with an encouraging but sleepy smile.

I didn't want to worry him by saying that I couldn't do that when healing or fighting, that my other chakra could kill on contact, so I just smiled and nodded. We said our goodnights and I leapt onto a roof, trying to figure out where in the village I was and where I could go to waste my chakra.

I don't know why, but I had been assigned to deliver the weekly payments for several ANBU members, jonin, and chunin. On top of the hundred and fifty or so payment deliveries, I had to also take documents to the KMPF (Konoha Military Police Force. It exists. Look it up.) and the small sacs of coins for Team Minato.

I was in the Uchiha Clan section of Konoha delivering payments, police reports, and other assorted archives. I sighed and knocked on yet another door, holding a package with coins in it labeled "Takahiro". I had been running back and forth across the Uchiha area for an hour now. All the names of Uchiha shinobi were organized by first name, not last, because they all, of course, shared the same surname.

Sweat was dripping down most of my body. My face, I was told by an elderly woman, was "red as a tomato" and my hands were covered in paper cuts. It was almost one hundred and twenty degrees today and here I was sprinting across the village from one house to another since just after dawn.

Unfortunately, the list of shinobi expecting payment was organized by surname instead of address. That was going to be fixed when I got back to Hiruzen-sensei's office.

The door opened with a loud shrieking sound as an Uchiha, who was in what looked like his pajamas and mid-fourties, stepped into the doorway. "Hello. I'm looking for a…Mr. Takahiro Uchiha?" I asked looking at the name on he label once again to make sure I read it correctly.

"Yes that's me. What do you-" Mr. Takahiro started but was interrupted by the voice of a young boy.

"Who is it Dad?!" yelled the voice.

Takahiro sighed. "Sorry, ignore him. Um, what did you need again?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm here to deliver-" I stopped as a kunai was thrown at me from inside the house. Triggered by reflex, my hand shot up to catch the kunai between my index and middle fingers. "-your payment and collect a report of the recent robbery." I finished. Mr. Takahiro's mouth hung open as none other than Obito shoved his way in front of his father to see if his kunai attack had hit me.

"You!" he growled.

I took a deep breath and held out the kunai to him. "I believe that this is yours, Obito." He snatched the throwing knife out of my hand angrily and I turned to Mr. Takahiro. "And this, sir, is yours." I finished, handing him the gray package. Takahiro slowly reached out his hand to take it, his eyes shifting between me and his son.

"What, you're the delivery girl now? Don't you have a teammate to leave to die from internal bleeding or something?" Obito spat.

"Obito!" Takahiro scolded, giving his son a light smack on the back of the head. "Don't speak like that! **Especially** to a girl! You treat women with respect, got it?"

"But Dad she's the one that let Rin-" Obito tried to explain.

"As I've tried to tell you multiple times now, Obito," I interrupted, "Rin wasn't dying or bleeding internally. She was in shock, she was cold, she was in pain, and, on top of it all she tripped and hit her head. But I guess you wouldn't know the difference. You don't have medical training." I finished almost mockingly. "Oh! And before you start on about how I'm a liar or whatever, I'm just going to give this to you and go." I reached into my Forever Bag (In case I haven't explained what it is in previous chapters, the Forever Bag is a magical item that looks like a normal canvas bag, but it becomes a portal to a vast endless space when activated.) and pulled out the small leather bag with Obito's small payment.

"What's that for?" he questioned.

"Your reward from the mission. But if you don't want it, I'd be happy to put it back in with my share of the money." I said.

He glared at me for a moment before answering. "Open it." he ordered. I did as I was told: I opened the bag and showed him the coins inside. "Now put it on the floor and step back." I did as instructed and Obito cautiously stepped forward to take it, his eyes never leaving me.

"Mr. Takahiro, I still need to take that report to the Hokage." I reminded the man who had been standing still in shock and irritation.

"Oh! Yes, um, let me go get it. I'll be right back." he responded, turning to go back inside. Obito didn't follow him, however. He stood there and stared at me, waiting for his father to find and bring the file. As I waited, I took out my long list of shinobi and crossed off Takahiro and Obito's names.

I started looking through the other Uchihas, wishful that they had lived together in large groups. I sighed, crossing off the names "Takahiro" and "Obito".

"What's that for, community service?" Obito pried.

"No," I responded without lifting my head, "I'm helping the Hokage. Not that I wanted to run his subordinates' errands or anything."

"I'm back." Takahiro interrupted. I glanced up to see him standing behind his son holding out a white file. I took a step forward to grab it, taking a peek at Obito to see if he would object, and stepped back quickly.

"Thank you. Before I go, are there any other shinobi expecting payment or anything like that living here, or even visiting?" I asked tiredly. "It would save me the trip if I gave it to them now."

"No." Obito and Takahiro said in unison. I nodded and started walking to the next house on the list.

I was sitting under a tree in the same clearing that Kakashi had been sucked into my genjutsu and finishing off the new list of shinobi names that was organized by address.

I forced my eyes to scan the list just one more time, making sure that I didn't miss any names. I didn't want to make a mistake, after all. I sighed in relief as I found my new list free of error.

Then I heard a twig snap behind the tree that I was leaning on. My head immediately popped up, knowing that it was my Master walking over and that I could get myself beaten for not doing as I was told if he was in a bad mood.

"Reorganizing the Konoha records, kid?" he asked.

I rolled up the long sheets of paper and put them in my Bag, putting on a sour expression that I had been saving since the night before just for him. "How is he?" I inquired.

"Kakashi has your chakra in him. It's only a little bit though and I sealed it, but we both know **that** won't last long. Little apprentice of mine," he called loudly even though he was standing right next to me, "you got it into his system yesterday when he ran into your genjutsu's chakra field. This could be a problem."

"How much of it got into his body?" I whispered, looking at my Master straight in the eyes, fear creeping along my spine. If Kakashi had enough of my poisonous chakra in him, he could die within the next few hours.

Master smiled a bit. "Less than all the stuff you've ever put into me combined."

I felt a triumphant grin tugging at my lips but I held back. There was nothing to feel victorious about until I took the chakra out or Kakashi used it all up.

"You know what you have to do, right Akemi?" he questioned.

I nodded. "When can I get an object that will qualify?"


End file.
